Does Litigation Benefit the Public?
We often hear claims that litigation has costs: costs to the insurance companies who, in turn, blame the legal system for raising rates to those they insure; costs to those sued; and societal costs. We don’t typically hear about the benefits that come through the legal system. I want to give you a very specific example of what happens when litigation, and the amounts those injured by the acts of others, is restricted.
A few years ago, there was an alleged medical malpractice crisis in the State of Nevada. This “crisis” was allegedly caused by an overabundance of malpractice claims against medical providers (doctors, hospitals, etc.) It is my opinion that the “crisis” was a fabrication of the insurance industry as a result of the losses it suffered as the stock market declined.
In any case, the Insurance Industry (with the help of doctors who believed that the insurers would lower their rates if they were able to limit the amounts that could be claimed against them) convinced the State of Nevada to place restrictions on the amount a person injured by a negligent doctor could be awarded for the non-economic damages caused by the doctor’s negligence in performing his medical services. The details of the restrictions are not important for this discussion.
The “medical malpractice crisis” began sometime in Early January, 2002. A special session of the Nevada Legislature was held in resulting in a “tort reform” bill signed by the governor limiting the amount of non-economic damages that could be awarded against a doctor found to have been medically negligent. That bill was signed in the Summer of 2002. The cap for non-economic damages did not apply to cases of gross malpractice which was defined as a “failure to exercise the required degree of care, skill or knowledge that amounts to: (a) A conscious indifference to the consequences which may result from the gross malpractice; and (b) A disregard for and indifference to the safety and welfare of the patient.”
In 2003, the Insurance Companies got together and had a bill passed with the help of fear they built by the alleged threat of doctors leaving Nevada due to high costs of Malpractice Insurance. The limitations set by that bill are simple. NRS 41A.035 (Limitation on amount of award for noneconomic damages) states:
In an action for injury or death against a provider of health care based upon professional negligence, the injured plaintiff may recover noneconomic damages, but the amount of noneconomic damages awarded in such an action must not exceed
$350,000.
There are NO exceptions to that limitation. NRS 41A.035 was proposed by an initiative petition (led by guess whom) and approved by the voters at the 2004 General Election and therefore was not subject to legislative amendment or repeal until after November 23, 2007. This change took effect in 2004 – just months before the beginning of the alleged re-use of needles at endoscopy clinics in Las Vegas. For those who have not heard, this involves (according to various reports) tens of thousands of people who, at the very least, have to be concerned that they were been exposed to diseases such as Hepatitis C and HIV (AIDS). At worst, some appear to have contracted these diseases as a result of the re-use of needles at one or more clinics.
Now, you tell me….does litigation and the threat of litigation benefit the public?
February 23rd, 2010 at 9:19 pm
It is funny no one ever mentions the outragous amounts of money Doctors and Hospitals can charge but they want to cap what they can be sued for. In Nevada the leading cause of wrongful death is Medical Malpractice. That is insanity it is that way because of the cap imposed by law. If you make it economically unsound to make the same mistake twice, believe me you will get better health care, there will be less mistakes, they will pay better and more attention to what they are doing because they want the big fat money that they charge and it they make the same mistake that cost them so much they will be out of business. Let's face it Doctors and Hospitals don't care if people live or die in the first place. If you have no insurance and you have cancer your going to die of cancer, you are not going to get top notch state of the art health care, if you have no insurance or money, you'll be lucky if they at least keep your suffering down. They only care when they make big money and if they keep making mistakes they will be out of business. It also allows them to play God to a certain degree. My sister died at a hospital in Nevada, she had advance stage Chirrosis of the liver, she had it from auto immune disease. She went to emergency because she couldn't walk they told her she had a hip contusion gave her oxycodone told her to take tylenol. She isn't supposed to take tylenol, Two days later she was back at emergency, she couldn't breathe, they said she had anemia, siatica, bronchitis, renal insuffiency and sent her home again. Two days later she was back her temperature was 85 degrees, she was delusional, hallucinating,she didn't know where she was. How can a doctor send a person home who has advance stage chirrosis of the liver, when they have diagnonsed her kidneys are starting to fail. If your liver isn't working you can't send them home if their kidneys are starting to fail. Blood transfusion dialyisis, you don't send them home. Besides the fact they missed she had phnemonia. The intake person wrote down that my sister had Hepititis C, that she drank occaisionally and she smoked. My sister didn't have hepititis C, she didn't drink or smoke, she had auto immune diesease and her immune sytem was attacking her liver. The hospital judged my sister's life because she had Chirosis of the liver and figured she was abusing her body and wouldn't live long and they weren't going to waste there time and care on someone who was just going to die anyways from her own abuse. She was on a transplant list. S.F hospital told them to transfer her they had a liver for her, they said they would when she stabilized. They didn''t do anything to stabilize her, bring her body temperature up, they let her die and that she did the next day. They have the right to play God and the right to murder and that's what Nevada's cap did to Nevada. Can anything good come from Nevada, you have the highest teen suicide rate, the highest teen pregnancy, and the leading cause of wrongful death is medical malpractice. Who would want to live there. Obviously ledgeislators in Nevada have someone's interest at heart but it isn't the citizens of Nevada. The thing is the Governor, Congressmen and Senators live in Nevada and one day it is going to be their daughter, son, mother, father, brother. wife or maybe themself that is going to find their self in a situation on the receiveing end of medical malpractice, the odds are in favor and Nevada understands odds. Then maybe the law will change, it is one thing to grieve the loss of someone you love so dearly it is another thing to over come grief when you know it shouldn't of happened, that it could have been prevented, that you can't make that Doctor or Hopital realize how valuable the person that they negligently let die. The person they disregarded and said had no value. You can't show them oh yes they did have value and you will know how valuable that person was, if fact I will make it economically unsound for you to ever make that mistake again. I will rest knowing that another person will not suffer that mistake at your hands. If you don't remember to check your oil in your car and your engine goes out because it didn't have any oil in it and you have to pay for a new engine or a new car, believe me, you will never again forget to check your oil. Same principal. Remove the cap and you will have much better medical care, far less lawsuits, because they will be more careful instead of careless. Unfortunantly the state of Nevada says, your loved one isn't valuable either. How do you over come that loss. In loving memory of Christine Marie Peterson my sister, who is very valuable no matter what the hospital says and no matter what Nevada state ledgislature says, because look at what their opinion has said to it's citizens. You know what it says to the women of Nevada, they never charge anyone with rape, they charge sexual assault. It's one thing to have a law that says, you will go to prison for the rest of your life if you have sex with a minor, sounds like they care, but it doesn't do any good if you won't charge the person with rape, if you only charge them with sexual assault they don't go to prison for the rest of their life. Nevada never charges rape. So women aren't valuable either. So it doesn't matter how valuable either say she is because neither have a clue.
February 24th, 2010 at 4:19 am
It is funny no one ever mentions the outragous amounts of money Doctors and Hospitals can charge but they want to cap what they can be sued for. In Nevada the leading cause of wrongful death is Medical Malpractice. That is insanity it is that way because of the cap imposed by law. If you make it economically unsound to make the same mistake twice, believe me you will get better health care, there will be less mistakes, they will pay better and more attention to what they are doing because they want the big fat money that they charge and it they make the same mistake that cost them so much they will be out of business. Let's face it Doctors and Hospitals don't care if people live or die in the first place. If you have no insurance and you have cancer your going to die of cancer, you are not going to get top notch state of the art health care, if you have no insurance or money, you'll be lucky if they at least keep your suffering down. They only care when they make big money and if they keep making mistakes they will be out of business. It also allows them to play God to a certain degree. My sister died at a hospital in Nevada, she had advance stage Chirrosis of the liver, she had it from auto immune disease. She went to emergency because she couldn't walk they told her she had a hip contusion gave her oxycodone told her to take tylenol. She isn't supposed to take tylenol, Two days later she was back at emergency, she couldn't breathe, they said she had anemia, siatica, bronchitis, renal insuffiency and sent her home again. Two days later she was back her temperature was 85 degrees, she was delusional, hallucinating,she didn't know where she was. How can a doctor send a person home who has advance stage chirrosis of the liver, when they have diagnonsed her kidneys are starting to fail. If your liver isn't working you can't send them home if their kidneys are starting to fail. No blood transfusion, no dialyisis, you don't send them home. Besides the fact they missed she had phnemonia. The intake person wrote down that my sister had Hepititis C, that she drank occaisionally and she smoked. My sister didn't have hepititis C, she didn't drink or smoke, she had auto immune diesease and her immune sytem was attacking her liver. The hospital judged my sister's life because she had Chirosis of the liver and because they listed her as having Hepitis Cand figured she was abusing her body and wouldn't live long and they weren't going to waste there time and care on someone who was just going to die anyways from her own abuse. Because most people who have Chirrosis of the liver have it from Hepititis C or from drinking. They assumed what they didn't know or bother to care about. The autopsy didn't say she had hepititis C but on the death cirtificate the hospital said she died from a comunicable disease. (Please forgive my spelling) She was on a transplant list. S.F hospital told them to transfer her they had a liver for her, they said they would when she stabilized. They didn''t do anything to stabilize her, bring her body temperature up, they let her die and that she did the next day. They have the right to play God and the right to murder and that's what Nevada's cap did to Nevada. Can anything good come from Nevada, you have the highest teen suicide rate, the highest teen pregnancy, and the leading cause of wrongful death is medical malpractice. Who would want to live there. Obviously ledgeislators in Nevada have someone's interest at heart but it isn't the citizens of Nevada. The thing is the Governor, Congressmen and Senators live in Nevada and one day it is going to be their daughter, son, mother, father, brother. wife or maybe themself that is going to find their self in a situation on the receiveing end of medical malpractice, the odds are in favor and Nevada understands odds. Then maybe the law will change, it is one thing to grieve the loss of someone you love so dearly it is another thing to over come grief when you know it shouldn't of happened, that it could have been prevented, that you can't make that Doctor or Hopital realize how valuable the person that they negligently let die. The person they disregarded and said had no value. You can't show them oh yes they did have value and you will know how valuable that person was, if fact I will make it economically unsound for you to ever make that mistake again. I will rest knowing that another person will not suffer that mistake at your hands. If you don't remember to check your oil in your car and your engine goes out because it didn't have any oil in it and you have to pay for a new engine or a new car, believe me, you will never again forget to check your oil. Same principal. Remove the cap and you will have much better medical care, far less lawsuits, because they will be more careful instead of careless. Unfortunantly the state of Nevada says, your loved one isn't valuable either. How do you over come that loss. In loving memory of Christine Marie Peterson my sister, who is very valuable no matter what the hospital says and no matter what Nevada state ledgislature says, because look at what their opinion has said to it's citizens. You know what it says to the women of Nevada, they never charge anyone with rape, they charge sexual assault. It's one thing to have a law that says, you will go to prison for the rest of your life if you have sex with a minor, sounds like they care, but it doesn't do any good if you won't charge the person with rape, if you only charge them with sexual assault they don't go to prison for the rest of their life. Nevada never charges rape. So women aren't valuable either. So it doesn't matter how valuable either say she is because neither have a clue.