How tort reform and defensive medicine undermine patient safety

Role of Risk Management in Medical Malpractice

The role of risk management in the health care industry begins with many preventative actions. One of the most argued and sensitive subjects in the last decade has been that of medical malpractice. Severe bleeding during operations, breathing problems due to incorrectly performed procedures, among other malpractice issues are becoming increasingly popular for legal suits between patients and medical providers. To fight back, medical providers are working to change the legal system (Grady, 2010). One simple questions remains. Is malpractice improving, or are laws simply protecting negligent medical providers?

History of Medical Malpractice

Preventable medical errors kill or injure hundreds of thousands of Americans annually. Of this amount, 98,000 are killed at a cost of $29 billion. Medical errors have become such a large cause of death that the Centers for Disease Control has claimed it as the sixth leading cause of death in America. Approximately one out of every three Americans has either experienced or has had family experience medical negligence, making the problem an epidemic, according to University of Pennsylvania law professor Tom Baker (Baker, 2005).

An increase in malpractice lawsuits at the turn of the millennium allowed Americans to fight against medical wrong-doing. However, the medical industry worked hard to change laws to lower malpractice suits. The tort reform, which fought to take legal rights away from patients, made it more difficult for patients to win justifiable damages. Unfortunately, this is growing concern for patients, as it is not resolving the issues, but rather, simply protecting the medical negligence (REFERENCE).

3.0 The Legalities and Patients

Civil justice is helping in the reform against medical negligence. The system provides patients the right to seek compensation for their injuries due to negligence and encourages preventative patient safety systems. The risk of ignoring malpractice instead of resolving the issues and taking responsibility is creating an ever-increasing depletion of patient safety and care quality. States that have lower standards are among those that have the worst possible care (CIVIL SYSTSEM)

5.0 Malpractice Insurance

Malpractice insurance has been the target of risk management during the health reforms. Caps have been placed on many types of medical lawsuits, which are allowing insurance companies to benefit their profit and cause financial strain on the injured. Insurance companies are not doing their portion in preventing injuries by preventing compensation to the injured. In states where doctors were less required to take responsibility for malpractice, patient safety was also at dangerously low levels. Conversely, doctors in states requiring more liability saw far better overall patient safety (REFCIVJUST).

6.0 Texas Sample

Texas has seen a considerable amount of detriment with the medical malpractice problem. In one particular case, a patient from San Antonio, Texas was seeking help at her local hospital emergency room regarding an excruciating pain in her leg. Diagnosed with "bilateral leg pain," the emergency room doctor ran some tests and then requested that she get further assistance from her regular physician. Within 72 hours, the patient discovered her legs had turned deep red and had to be transported by ambulance to a separate hospital. Doctors at the second hospital had concluded that the leg tissue had died, due to one of her veins being severely clotted. Among other issues, the patient found that her kidneys were failing. Because of the harshness of the medical emergency, the patient went unconscious, waking up weeks later to having two amputated legs (Ramshaw, 2010).

Clearly, the patient was devastated, but more so than that, she became aggravated at the original emergency room doctor's diagnosis. Had the problem been resolved earlier, there was a chance that her legs would have survived the incident. She had the perfect malpractice case, except that she was in the state of Texas, and no lawyer would take the case (Ramshaw, 2010).

7.0 Outlook on Improvement

The overall outlook on healthcare malpractice reform is quite blurred. In some situations, the risk management taken by either the state, federal government, doctors, or the patients is lowering the malpractice occurrence. In other situations, the financially thirsty are benefitting. To protect patients, the Center for Medicare and Medicate Services has stated that some expensive, reasonably preventable conditions could not be reimbursed by Medicare or be billed to patients. As a result, the hope is to cause more doctor responsibility. In 2008, new rules were placed into effect to encourage hospitals to take steps to avoid "reasonably preventable" hospital acquired conditions. Risk management in the field of medical malpractice is far from perfect, and growth and evolution are definitely needed. However, in more recent years, steps in the right direction have been taken. Malpractice is improving, but negligent medical providers are still escaping responsibility because of unnecessary legal protection.