Malpractice lawsuits are low-priority health care issue, survey finds.Despite President George W. Bush's reference to "junk lawsuits" in his February State of the Union address “State of the Union” redirects here. For other uses, see State of the Union (disambiguation). The State of the Union is an annual address in which the President of the United States reports on the status of the country, normally to a joint session of Congress (the , most people in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. do not rank medical malpractice Improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional. lawsuits among the top 10 issues the country is facing. After the war in Iraq and the economy, respondents to a survey released in January by the Kaiser Family Foundation The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), or just Kaiser Family Foundation, is a U.S.-based non-profit, private operating foundation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. and Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard School of Public Health is (colloquially, HSPH) is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Longwood Area of the Boston, Massachusetts neighborhood of Mission Hill, next to Harvard Medical School and Cambridge, Massachusetts, ranked health care as the most important issue the Bush administration needs to address. (See www.kff. org/kaiserpolls/pomr011105pkg.cfm.) While the president bemoans large lawsuit awards that allegedly drive up the cost of insurance and force doctors to leave their medical practice, survey respondents ranked malpractice second-to-last of their top 12 health-related concerns. Nearly two-thirds of adults (63 percent of respondents) ranked lowering the costs of health care and health insurance as the top concern; second was making Medicare more fiscally sound for the future (58 percent); and third was increasing the number of Americans with health insurance (57 percent). The lowest-ranked concern was increasing federal funding for stem-cell research Noun 1. stem-cell research - research on stem cells and their use in medicine biological research - scientific research conducted by biologists embryonic stem-cell research - biological research on stem cells derived from embryos and on their use in medicine (21 percent). Barely a quarter of those who responded indicated malpractice was a significant problem. "The public isn't pushing hard for malpractice reform but will be happy to have it if the lawyers, doctors, administration, and Congress can agree on a plan," said Drew Altman, Kaiser Foundation president, in a press release. The 26 percent of respondents who indicated medical malpractice was a problem attributed rising insurance rates to several factors: * too many lawyers filing unwarranted suits (32 percent) * high insurance company profits (15 percent) * too many patients making unwarranted claims against their doctors (14 percent) * too many doctors making mistakes (11 percent) Six in 10 of those respondents said they would support caps on noneconomic damages, but the caps they favored were relatively large: 30 percent said that, if imposed, the caps should be set at $1 million or higher. Several state laws limiting noneconomic damages and Bush's proposed federal legislation place the cap at $250,000. "As the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times recently reported, insurance industry business practices, not legal costs, are the principal cause of medical malpractice insurance premium increases," said ATLA ATLA Association of Trial Lawyers of America ATLA American Theological Library Association ATLA American Trial Lawyers Association ATLA Air Transport Licensing Authority (Hong Kong) ATLA Avatar: The Last Airbender President Todd Smith. "In the last year, payouts of malpractice claims dropped by almost 9 percent. And the fact of the matter is that every state in America has enjoyed an increase in the number of practicing physicians. The best way of reducing medical malpractice litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. is to eliminate medical negligence, and the best way to reduce doctors' premiums is to enact tough insurance reforms." Lowering the costs of health care and insurance may rightly be Americans' number-one concern. In February, legal and medical researchers at Harvard University released a study that found over half (54.5 percent) of personal bankruptcies in the United States are due to medical bills. Employed people with health insurance made up about 75 percent of the bankrupt group: Out-of-pocket expenses out-of-pocket expenses n. moneys paid directly for necessary items by a contractor, trustee, executor, administrator or any person responsible to cover expenses not detailed by agreement. resulted in their crippling medical bills. The study showed that by 2001, there were about 23 times as many bankruptcies from medical debt as in 1981. For complete results, visit www. healthaffairs.org; click on "Web Exclusives," then "Medical Bankruptcy." |
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