The Effects of Malpractice Suits on the Healthcare System

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Recommended: Malpractice in healthcare fields

Uninformed verdicts from medical malpractice law suits and the rising cost of medical malpractice insurance are thought to contribute to the high cost of medical care. This is because they force doctors to practice defensive medicine by ordering extra tests and procedures to protect themselves in the event of a lawsuit. The amount spent on these precautions, legal fees, claims, and unlimited damage awards also reflect in the rising cost of medical care which intern is passed down to the patients. Today patients are becoming more litigious because there are many lawyers luring you in, with advertisements geared towards lawsuits for medical malpractice. Most of the time malpractice suits consist of falsified allegations, seen by most people as abusing the system. In addition to these embarrassing lawsuits, plaintiffs are awarded large amounts of money for damages because there are no caps on court awards. The increases in malpractice suits have affected the health care system because of the hansom damage awards paid out by the physicians, which causes the rate of medical malpractice insurance to increase.

In this case, malpractice refers to Negligence or misconduct by a health care worker such as a physician. The failure to meet a standard of care or standard of conduct that is recognized by this profession reaches the level of malpractice when a patient is injured because of a mistake made. For example, the physicians are less personable with patients out of fear of being sued for malpractice causing patients to be less fourth coming with certain information that would prevent errors in treatment. “ Hospitals and doctors’ offices, hoping to curb medical error, have invested heavily to put computers, smartphones and other devices i...

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...d out by healthcare workers and make them reconsider giving an immediate diagnosis which leads to the overuse of defensive medicine. If the patient-doctor communication level was higher than it will leave less room for error and more room for success in the medical facility. If the risk of malpractice was not as great then the level of care and empathy would increase in the health care industry.

Work Cited

Washington Times, 29 Nov. 2009:No3. Defensive medicine costs; Litigation-inspired tests hinder needed ones. The Washington Times. Web. Retrieved 6 Mar. 2012. Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context.

The New York Times, 11 Mar. 2011. Medicaid and the N.Y. Budget: A Bad Deal on Malpractice. The New York Times Company. Web. Retrieved 8 Mar. 2012.

Chen, P. W, 20 Dec. 2011. “Well; Once Sued, Many Are Twice Shy.” The New York Times, Web. Retrieved 8 Mar. 2012.

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