Business Week
The tougher one is medical malpractice. Evidence of massive systemic malfunction is starting to accumulate. Only about 2% of the people who are genuinely injured even bother to file lawsuits, according to most studies. When people do go to court, only 40% of every dollar spent on litigation goes to victims. Then there's the spreading damage to doctors. For some specialists, medical malpractice premiums can eat up between 20% and 50% of annual income. That's why neurosurgeons are avoiding trauma cases and orthopedic surgeons are eliminating emergency room calls.
The steady drumbeat of problems has prompted many physicians, lawyers, and politicians to support the idea of special health courts. They would have dedicated judges, a panel of neutral experts, and medically trained staff. Because pretrial discovery would be limited, the cost of filing cases would decline. The theory is that this would induce more injured people to make claims, and that they would get their money faster.
But there's a big trade-off -- no emotional or punitive damages. To ensure consistency, health court awards would be based on a European-style damages schedule. In Britain, for example, damages paid for quadriplegia range from $311,000 to $387,000, depending on a patient's residual movement, depression, pain, and age.
I've long advocated a special "pre-court" for medical malpractice, staffed by experts to head off all but the most egregious cases of malpractice from reaching a jury. Who do I have to write to get these enacted?
