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Attalus, I agree that malpractice rates have reached "criminal" levels. (Only a slight pun intended.) Good doctors are being punished by the actions of bad doctors/hospitals. When then are these bad doctors going to be punished. Self-regulation doesn't seem to be working. If a forklift operator is fired if found drunk or on drugs while on the job; then why isn't a doctor? Rare as they are, there are cases of doctors being criminally negligent not once but several times; ending up in prison but still not losing their license. These cases are the things which lead to juries being punative in their awards.
Timber Loftis, I don't think that the legal profession is blameless in this regard either. There are ambulance chasing lawyers which bring unjust, unsubstantiated, and flat out dishonest lawsuits into our courts. They just keep throwing lawsuits out their and wait for the one that pays off. Why aren't these lawyers disbarred? What I would like to see is that a lawyer that brings a frivilous suit has to personally pay for all legal and court expenses and those who knowlingly bring fraudulent claims to civil court be disbarred.
I know that these examples do not reflect the vast majority of either doctors or lawyers. What bothers me is that self-regulation doesn't seem to be working and no honest attempt is being made to make it work, only the demand that "we will handle it ourselves". This is a serious problem that does reflect an outpouring of real anger against the deception and lies of companies/doctors/lawyers etc.. When doctors and lawyers take self-regulation seriously and the public demands that insurance companies are held accountable for their own fisical mismanagment, then I think we will be well on the way to reaching an equitable solution.
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