At this time the current medical malpractice system “provides benefits to too few deserving victims of physicians’ mistakes.” The reason this is the case is because most hospitals are considered nonprofit and are protected and insulated by charitable immunity statutes. This leaves one to wonder about the fact that these same hospitals are seeing revenue in the hundreds of millions, and the fact that these large institutions are not held accountable for medical errors that could potentially cause birth injuries or other health problems.
The numerous medical errors that occur such as infections, poor procedures, and inadequate training and staffing lead to astronomical numbers of errors. The institute of Medicine has reported that 98,000 people die each year from medical errors.
The legal process plays a valuable role in improving the quality of health care provided by physicians and hospitals by exposing the errors that are made, and allowing medical care personnel to improve communication and prevent future occurrences of common mistakes. The transparency and accountability of the medical and health care profession is necessary to ensure that every patient is given the very best care possible and to cut down on the preventable loss of life, birth injuries and complications from medical care.
The news of medical care reform and affordable health care for all is the slogan that we are hearing, but the reform is what must come first. Reforming the medical care available, providing checks and balances, making medical workers liable for their mistakes should be at the top of the list of medical priorities.
