Medical Malprastice: The Termful Effects Of Medical Malpractice

"Doctor, doctor, my body hurts wherever I touch it!” A young brunette exclaims. “Show me,” says the physician. The girl proceeds to poke multiple areas of her body and scream every time she does so. “Hmm,” the doctor remarks, “I think I ought to send you off to a specialist.” Wait a minute, that’s not how the joke goes, is it? Isn’t he supposed to say she’s a blonde with a broken finger? Well, in the future, the joke just might go like that. Lately, Americans and their physicians have been at odds. Citizens are focused on getting the treatment they deserve, while physicians are doing their best to provide it. Unfortunately, many people feel as though they have been shorted or neglected. The result? Medical malpractice litigations one after

As Sherman Joyce explains, the average cost of defending a physician in court is $87,720. And that’s without the plaintiff winning any damages awards. It follows that, as the number of claims increase, as they have since the 1960s, then the cost of insurance premiums increases as well (“Medical Malpractice”). In 2002, according to Kenneth Jost, there was an observable hike in insurance premiums over the year. For physicians practicing internal medicine, general medicine, and obstetrics-gynecology, insurance premiums increased thirty percent (Jost, Kenneth).
These increased premiums, in turn, have hurt practicing physicians. Increased insurance rates in an area typically indicate a high probability of being sued. The prospect of being taken to court, in many cases, frightens doctors away from the area (Jost, Kenneth). As Hilde L. Nelson writes, doctors perceive their risk of being sued for neglect as being thirty times greater than it actually is. Similarly, they see the risk of being groundlessly sued as being one to three times greater than the actual likelihood (Nelson, Hilde L.). Consequently, forty-five percent of hospitals have lost physicians, and most have reduced coverage in emergency departments as well (Joyce,

One article points out that in order to compensate for higher premiums, physicians have to increase their fees. And not only that, but health insurance premiums for everyday citizens are on the rise as well (“Medical Malpractice”). The combination of more expensive fees and premiums and a decreasing availability of physicians has made healthcare more difficult to attain in today’s society. Rather than cultivating the health care system, medical malpractice litigation has managed to impede it. Rooted in the intentions of weeding out dangerous practitioners, the blooms of the litigations created a toxic environment for physicians. The causes behind medical malpractice are justified, but the application needs work. Lawsuits inadvertently raise physicians’ liability insurance premiums, which financially and emotionally stresses them, who in turn leave an area and its residents. The effects of the lawsuits are felt by both doctors and patients. This is not to say that many physicians do not flourish in the healthcare system — they do. Hopefully, the effects of medical malpractice lawsuits can transform the toxic environment into one that facilitates growth and prosperity for