Medical Malpractice

[meuge]

A little personal anecdote I wanted to share:

My girlfriend's cousin is an attending at an ER in Florida... and he's so afraid of malpractice lawsuits, he's forced to have 3(!!!) separate malpractice policies... (after watching other doctors' livelihoods be destroyed by lawsuits) the cost of which hover around $100k/year. As a consequence, last year his family was not able to afford health insurance.

Let me explain again: an ER attending (not a resident) could not afford to buy his family health insurance... after 4 years in college, 4 years of medical school, and 3 years of residency, and 2 years of fellowship... and then a number of years of practice.

I thought this might spur a discussion (other than me venting in preparation for when I will have to shell out tens of thousands to the insurance companies myself).

 

[BIGIRON]

Welcome to the real world. My retina doc, who has become a good friend, spends about $15 of EVERY office visit fee for MP insurance. That's why a lot of beginner docs enter the military or VA or USPHS service -- they can't afford to start their own practice.

But remember, there's two sides to every story and the truth is usually in the middle.

 

[meuge]

But remember, there's two sides to every story and the truth is usually in the middle.

I do remember. And frequently that's the case.

But just as frequently there isn't. Argumentum ad temperantiam is an important logical fallacy, since there is no reason to assume that middleground is correct in every single case.

 

[greenLED]

...he's forced to have 3(!!!) separate malpractice policies...

Forced? As in obligated by legal statutes? or is he somewhat voluntarily obtaining extra coverage in case things go south? Either way, it sucks.

 

[BIGIRON]

Please note I said "usually" and I think that, at least anecdotally, that's pretty much the case.

 

[meuge]

Forced? As in obligated by legal statutes? or is he somewhat voluntarily obtaining extra coverage in case things go south? Either way, it sucks.

Voluntarily. As far as I understand that someone he knows had a bad experience, and so he wanted to provide himself with an adequate-enough shield.

 

[MarNav1]

Eventually the whole "system" will collapse anyway. I'm suprised it hasn't already. Then we will be forced onto uncle governments system which will be one of the first things Jezebel will push under her "plan". Oops, I forgot I'm not to make inflammatory statements. My point? If a doctor can't afford to pay then the "common" guy can't either. Socialized medicine can't be far away.

 

[meuge]

Eventually the whole "system" will collapse anyway. I'm suprised it hasn't already. Then we will be forced onto uncle governments system which will be one of the first things Jezebel will push under her "plan". Oops, I forgot I'm not to make inflammatory statements. My point? If a doctor can't afford to pay then the "common" guy can't either. Socialized medicine can't be far away.

Unfortunately the first thing that the socialized medicine will do is drop doctors' salaries 3X. Nice.

 

[Empath]

It didn't take long for it to become a political thread, did it? It's a good candidate for the Underground, and is worthy of the charged discussion that would go with it. I hope to see it there. Thread closed.