Reforming medical malpractice laws has long been an issue in healthcare, particularly among different state legislatures. It has gained traction in current years, but for a few, it isn't sufficient.
Proponents of tort reform say that the laws need to be changed so that injured persons in personal injury and wrongful death cases are only allowed to recover a certain, pre-determined amount of money damages regardless of the severity of the injuries. Many of those advocates claims that their state has a problem with too many lawsuits being filed, or with jury verdicts being for too much money. That approach looks at the issue wrong. The real issue is why is there so much medical malpractice occurring and causing damages that lead to these awards that so many lawsuits are getting filed and where juries find the injuries are worth millions of dollars? The problem is with negligent care, poorly-trained providers, and people who try to do too much in too little time. This leads to horrific mistakes in life-changing circumstances. This is why medical malpractice is the third leading cause of death for adults in the United States, as studied by Johns Hopkins. If you want to read more about medical malpractice issues, visit this medical malpractice website.
So-called “tort reform” does not make mistakes any less likely to occur. Instead, these proposed laws prevent the helpless injured patient and their families from being able to receive maximum financial compensation for what occurred as determined by a judge and jury. Keep in mind that the court process leads to verdict amounts, not lawyers and their clients just picking numbers.
Tort reform is the creation of big business, their lobbyists, their insurance companies, and others who do not want to take financial responsibility for the harm they cause other people. This powerful industry would rather spend time on money to keep plaintiffs from getting the amount of money a jury awards them, rather than using that same money to push tort reform to improve the education and training of the very individuals who make these awful mistakes. If the wrongdoers want to be less financially responsible, then they should make fewer mistakes. Everyone else in life is asked to be responsible for their mistakes, and being a defendant in a lawsuit should be no different.
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