It’s made national news. A Wisconsin woman trusted her doctor and hospital. She was told that she had an aggressive form of breast cancer and her only chance of survival was a double mastectomy. She and her husband chose survival and the surgery. Two days later they told her she never had cancer, that the lab mixed up her tests. Now she’s left with 31 inches of infected incisions on her chest, and a lot of justifiable anger. At the same time she came public with this unthinkable mistake, President Bush has announced his intention to limit liability for medical malpractice to $250,000. At first glance, that angered me. According to the Institute of Medicine (which keeps such statistics) anywhere between 44,000 and 98,000 people DIE each year because of mistakes made by doctors, nurses, pharmacists and, most often, institutional procedures that let mistakes happen. Hundreds of thousands of others each year are hurt by medical mistakes. Other examples A few years ago, at a single hospital in Florida, several people underwent surgery only to have the wrong leg or kidney removed. A simple mistake of “right” or “left” made a gigantic difference to those patients. Medication errors are common. Many drugs have similar names (ever tried to read a doctor’s handwriting?). It’s easy to mis-dose drugs, too. Drugs come in different strengths but can be packaged similarly. Patients can be given medication intended for another patient. You see one doctor who prescribes something, then see another doctor who prescribes something similar (doubling dosage) or another drug that could kill you when combined with what the other doctor prescribed. Yikes! Sponges and instruments can be left in patients after surgery. Anesthesiologists fall asleep during surgery. Doctors leave surgery early to go golfing (etc.). These are rare but devastating “mistakes”. Doctors and nurses can be impaired – sleepy, overworked, under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Mistakes happen. Paperwork mistakes can happen anywhere. Labels can fall off or be switched. Cases can be mixed up. Documents can be misfiled. Information can be mis-typed. This leads to misdiagnosis, wrong treatments, delayed treatments, and serious or fatal errors. Why limit awards? Malpractice insurance rates are forcing doctors to retire early or limit their practices to less risky patients and procedures. It may be hard to find a cardiologist, orthopedic surgeon or obstetrician in many parts of the country. Lawsuits can get out of hand. For instance, did you know that the doctor who delivers your child can be sued until that child is 21 years old? Let’s say your daughter falls off her bicycle and has serious injuries. Attorneys could make the case that the obstetrician made a mistake when she was born that caused a balance problem that caused the fall. That’s REALLY stretching things, but attorneys do this all the time. So many medical mistakes are made each year, and our judicial system allows multi-million-dollar judgments against the “deep pockets” of large hospitals and pharmaceutical companies. It’s only natural that insurance companies increase their rates. Ultimately, we ALL pay when juries grant gigantic awards in malpractice cases. We pay more for insurance and we pay more for health care. Why no limits? Some believe such extreme penalties will force hospitals to take more action to prevent mistakes. Yes, humans make mistakes. But many of these mistakes can be avoided with additional caution, and many believe the hospitals and clinics should be responsible for mistakes made by their personnel. Someone has to pay, right? And how can you put a price on trust, health or body parts once they are lost? Where do you stand? Do you favor Bush’s proposed limit of $250,000 damages for medical malpractice? Would that change if it was YOUR child, mother or spouse who was a victim of a “mistake”? I’m against a blanket limit for all cases. I think every case should be decided on its own – that’s what the courts and juries are supposed to do. The multi-gazillion-dollar awards ARE causing problems for us all, and perhaps are too much. You can see the White House paper on this issue at www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030116.html. You can find LOTS of information on medical malpractice on the Internet. Let us know what you think about this. We have a new poll on our Web site at www.kimballarea.com. Vote there, and we’ll post the results in a few weeks.
