Custom «Malpractice Crises» Essay Paper Sample

Every US citizen agrees that the medical care system is extremely expensive and there is need to reform it. However disagreements arise on which methods to use to enhance access to medical care as well as how to reduce health care costs.

Many recommendations and approaches to solving the medical malpractice crises have been made. One approach involves the complete removal or reduction of malpractice insurance. Insurance premiums are obscenely high in the US because millions of dollars have been awarded by courts as compensation to malpractice victims. Attorneys on the other hand have compounded the crises by filing for damages worth millions on their client’s behalf so that they can get a share of the compensation. Several ways to reduce insurance requirements have been proposed, starting with the limitation of lawsuits such that patients claiming malpractice compensation will only recover the medical cost incurred and nothing more. This plan would also reduce physician’s salaries which would make unscrupulous lawyers less motivated when it comes to focusing on malpractice compensation.

Establishing legally binding policies, signed by both patients and physicians, would address the current malpractice crises because once a patient has signed the document they cannot file a lawsuit against the physicians. However incase a patient disagrees with this terms, he should be given the option of incurring the cost of malpractice insurance. This plan would bring and to the malpractice crises.

The medical malpractice crises can also be solved by giving tax breaks to physicians who carry out charity work. People who are not able to meet the expenses of medical care would be accommodated by hospitals since they are viewed as a tax break which will benefit the hospital. If such a system was put in place, physicians would give free medical treatment in order to be able to reduce their income tax.

The medical malpractice crises has been fueled by costs incurred by patients in order to get prescriptions from physicians, many patients are capable of buying the right drugs without obtaining prescriptions. It’s unreasonable for a patient to incur fee charges in order to get a prescription. Eliminating prescription rules and necessities would radically reduce pointless visits to physicians as well as decrease the general expenditure on medical treatment.

Another approach to solving the medical crises is the removal of import restrictions on drugs manufactured abroad. This will expose our pharmaceutical companies to competition from foreign companies which would radically bring down the inflated cost of drugs.

I believe that the removal of malpractice insurance will have the greatest impact. Removing insurance companies from the medical system will be favorable to the industry as a whole. Many patients pass on the cost of their medical care to insurance companies even without really analyzing the cost. This leads to pointless procedures and tests being done on patients further complicating the malpractice crises. As Hillary Clinton remarked, that insurance companies don’t treat anyone, yet they reap billions of dollars and benefit most from the medical industry. Removing malpractice insurance will also reduce the compensation benefits awarded to patients. This will remove incentives for lawyers who keep advising patients to sue hospitals for damages even though in many cases no malpractice actually occurred.

I do agree that malpractice litigation has put patient care in great danger. Americans incur far more costs due to litigation when compared to other nations. This has been attributed to the use of expensive medical care by hospitals to avoid lawsuits. In recent years millions of dollars have been awarded by juries due to malpractice claims thereby causing a sharp increase in insurance premiums. Doctors can no longer access cheap insurance cover even if they have never been charged with malpractice. Americans on the other hand are finding it hard to get doctors who will take on patients who have health problems that are likely to chances of being sued. Some patients have to be moved to other states which have lenient malpractice laws or where insurance cover is cheap and easily accessible.