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To: Jim McMannis who wrote (100460)	8/6/2009 2:06:17 PM
From: skinowski	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

I think a lot of doctors would go for less if there were retraints on lawsuits. Many would just like to practice without all the BS. You are right on both points. I think that most costs associated with our hypertrophied medico-legal system are not even in the premiums and awards, which are apparently orders of magnitude higher than in most nations. Probably, far higher than in most - including all of our socialized friends. There are massive "hidden" costs due to the culture of "defensive medicine". Just think about a situation when an Emergency room doc does not think that a patient really need to be in the hospital. However, he must weigh against it years of aggravation for himself, if - against all reasonable odds - something were to go wrong with that patient, sometimes perhaps even because of not directly related reasons. What this doc will do is admit the patient to the hospital. Such situations arise daily, in thousands of hospitals, and each such admission will run into thousands of bucks. Will probably add up to hundreds of billions a year nationwide. And yet, our Prez doesn't mention this even once, and generally it is hardly ever mentioned. There is often an element of collusion, of course. If a Doc can get paid - and CYA - for doing a test, rather than not do the test and be exposed - guess what - more likely than not the test will get done As for BS involved in trying to stay in practice, here is a nice story written by a doctor. I wrote one of the replies to this post, also giving an example. Message 25841844 What we need is radical tort reform -- and massive DEREGULATION, which would dramatically reduce costs, especially in hospitals. THAT would be a REAL reform, rather than an old fashioned bullsh*t political quest for power.