Well, that must be why I could see it!! Sorry, thought I checked it first as open.
In for 2 paragraphs, in for a dollar: Claims not to blame for rising health costs To the editor: The Republican Party recently presented the American people with its "new governing agenda" entitled "A Pledge to America." This is simply a re-invention of 1993's "Contract with America." Not surprisingly, this agenda includes medical-liability reform. For 30 years, insurance companies have waged a public relations campaign designed to close the doors of the courtroom to those injured by medical professionals. This campaign is bolstered by claims of frivolous lawsuits. Proponents of the changes want the public to believe these claims are bankrupting insurance companies, burdening already overcrowded court dockets, and causing doctors to close their practices. Very few statistics that support these claims have been released. The perception is that there are thousands of claims and that virtually every doctor has been the "victim" of a medical-malpractice suit. I recently read an article in "Forum," a publication of the Risk Management Foundation for Harvard Medical Institutions. Below are statistics from that insurance publication: From 1998 to 2002, 290 patients or families filed suits against 407 CIRCO-insured surgeons (the malpractice insurance that covers Harvard University-affiliated hospitals and doctors). These were surgeons in the following areas: cardiac surgeon, ENT, general surgeon, neurosurgeon, oncology surgeon, ophthalmologist, oral surgeon, orthopedic surgeon, plastic surgeon, thoracic surgeon, urologist or vascular surgeon. From 1998 to 2002, the group of surgeons performed 960,000 inpatient and outpatient surgeries. The total cost of these claims was $123 million. That amount includes payments made to claimants on closed cases plus expenses, reserves and expenses on open cases. For the 78 malpractice cases filed against insured surgical residents from 1998 to 2002: 42 percent were dismissed; 34 percent were settled out of court; 22 percent ended in a defense verdict; and 2 percent were decided in favor of the plaintiff. Think about those numbers: Nine hundred sixty-thousand surgeries resulted in 407 claims, with 64 percent of that miniscule number ending favorably for the medical providers. The number I have not seen is the profitability of the insurers for the medical providers. If these insurers are charging exorbitant rates, perhaps reform is needed - of medical-malpractice insurers. Maybe it's time for the doctors and the lawyers to team up against the real enemy: the insurance companies. Kathleen M. O'Donnell Lowell On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 2:43 PM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]> wrote: > > If it is one of your websites, you might be aware that it requires you > to have an account and be a subscriber in order to be able to view it > :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:329320 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
