Patients and doctors have a special relationship and there is a certain element of trust. Patients trust their doctors to perform the proper tests and procedures in order to provide adequate and reasonable healthcare. Many people believe that tort reform is necessary to lower the potential healthcare costs, but medical malpractice attorneys fear that reducing the amount of compensation due to plaintiffs in some cases may be putting too much trust in these doctors. Sure, healthcare costs are exceedingly high in this country. However, by reducing medical malpractice awards through a cap system, people may be forgetting that there is a human element to practicing medicine and serious malpractice victims deserve to be compensated.
Malpractice and Healthcare Costs
First, many argue that since insurance companies charge very high premiums for doctors to gain liability insurance, doctors charge their patients more money. Secondly, a doctor’s fear this his or her patients may sue causes them to act in different ways. Many physicians claim that their fear of a lawsuit causes them to order additional tests and procedures (a practice that has since been penned “Defensive Medicine“) just to protect against charges of negligence.
Since doctors pay more money for insurance to guard against lawsuits and order many additional tests, they claim that all costs will be lowered if medical malpractice payouts are reduced. This is a good theory on paper but may not be ideal in practice. Limiting damages in some cases may not be a major deal but, in other cases, medical malpractice attorneys argue that the malpractice has such a traumatic result on the victim that their compensation should not be reduced. In this country, we pride ourselves on having juries of our peers determine what an adequate result is at trial. Do we really want to tell the person who was left blind, brain dead, paralyzed, or permanently disfigured that they can only collect a certain amount of money because of a malpractice cap?
Medical Malpractice Attorneys in New Jersey and Philadelphia
If you or a family member have recently been the victim of medical negligence, it is possible that you would like to speak with our professionals. Please contact the Mininno Law Office for a free case evaluation, or call for a free consultation at (856) 833-0600 in New Jersey, or (215) 567-2380 in Philadelphia.
Wilson strongly argued that these medical malpractice caps are blatantly favoring a special class of society over the general public. This special class includes medical professionals, corporations, insurance companies, and special interests groups. Malpractice victims may suffer many non-economic damages that will no longer be fully compensated for in states such as West Virginia. Someone who is permanently disfigured, maimed, or handicapped will certainty be owed compensation that exceeds mere medical expenses and future costs. An avid golfer or swimmer who can no longer enjoy these activities, a young child who will never walk or talk, or a woman who can never bear a child are only some of the instances where non-economic damages that exceed a cap may be necessary. Medical malpractice attorneys also have fears that were pointed out by Judge Wilson. He stated,