American health care is in crisis because of exploding medical
malpractice litigation. Insurance premiums for doctors and malpractice
lawsuits are skyrocketing, rendering doctors both afraid and unable to
afford to continue to practice medicine. Undeserving victims sue at the
drop of a hat, egged on by greedy lawyers, and receive eye-popping
awards that insurance companies, hospitals, and doctors themselves
struggle to pay. The plaintiffs and lawyers always win; doctors, and the
nonlitigious, always lose; and affordable health care is the real
victim.
This, according to Tom Baker, is the myth of medical malpractice, and as
a reality check he offers The Medical Malpractice Myth, a stunning
dismantling of this familiar, but inaccurate, picture of the health care
industry. Are there too many medical malpractice suits? No, according to
Baker; there is actually a great deal more medical malpractice, with
only a fraction of the cases ever seeing the inside of a courtroom. Is
too much litigation to blame for the malpractice insurance crisis? No,
for that we can look to financial trends and competitive behavior in the
insurance industry. Are these lawsuits frivolous? Very rarely. Point by
point, Baker--a leading authority on insurance and law--pulls together
the research that demolishes the myths that have taken hold about
medical malpractice and suggests a series of legal reforms that would
help doctors manage malpractice insurance while also improving patient
safety and medical accountability.
President Bush has made medical malpractice reform a priority in his
last term in office, but if history is any indication, legislative
reform would only worsen the situation and perpetuate the gross
misunderstanding of it. The debate surely will be transformed by The
Medical Malpractice Myth, a book aimed squarely at general readers but
with radical conclusions that speak to the highest level of domestic
policymaking.
