The single largest waste health care of health care money... Nearly $1,000,000,000,000!

[healthmyths]

I don't understand why people/the Media and anyone complaining about health care costs DOESN"T understand the below! The Federal government doesn't allow doctors to be sued so where is the same restriction on non-government doctors?

 

[healthmyths]

Now before you people thinking you will win the lottery i.e. a lawsuit of a doctor on a frivolous case like this:
This guy cut his OWN hand off then consulted an attorney and announced that he would sue the surgeon and hospital for $3 million. His legal theory: The doctor should have known that he was psychotic and therefore didn't have the capacity to give or withdraw consent.
Dr. Grenga should have attempted to reattach the hand no matter what he said.
"Passmore also sued the psychiatry group at the hospital, which settled before trial for an amount believed to be in the mid- six figures," Fitzpatrick said. Defending Dr. Grenga cost his insurer more than $70,000.
Medscape: Medscape Access
So in the future, Dr. Grenga as a precaution will totally ignore the requests of the patient it appears.

 

[healthmyths]

And remember THE above case had NOTHING to do with Defensive Medicine practices!
From that same Jackson Healthcare study: Top 10 Reasons Physicians Practice Defensive Medicine

1. To avoid being named in a potential lawsuit — 78 percent.
2. Defensive medicine has become the new "standard of care" — 61 percent.
3. Patient or family demands that everything humanly possible be done — 59 percent.
4. To adhere to the standard of perfection to which patients hold physicians. Any bad result is the physician's fault — 53 percent.
5. I do not want to risk my personal finances — 52 percent.
6. Fear of missing something. I don't want to make a mistake or be wrong — 52 percent.
7. To protect my good name. I do not wish to risk my reputation — 48 percent.
8. I have been named in a medical malpractice lawsuit and do not wish to repeat the experience — 41 percent.
9. Colleagues have been named in (a) medical malpractice lawsuit(s) and I saw what they went through to defend themselves.
I don't want that to happen to me — 41 percent.
10. Peer pressure. Other physicians of my specialty are doing it, and I'm afraid I'll look "deficient" by comparison if I do not — 24 percent.
Again all of the above reasons add up to nearly $1,000,000,000,000 in wasted money.
Do the insurance companies CARE? Of course not! Doesn't cost them in the short run. They simply raise the premiums.

 

[healthmyths]

And just for those who may not read closely the first post...
The 1946 Tort Claims Act... (Yes.. 73 years ago!!!) basically reduces "defensive medicine" costs by doctors under federal contract...they can't be sued!
So why hasn't the same be held for non-government doctors? Where is the "fairness" in that?

BioScience Economics, a health care economics firm, estimates that defensive medicine costs our economy $700 billion annually in both the public and private sectors. Of that, almost half impacts federal and state taxpayers as about $320 billion is wasted on defensive medicine by doctors who see Medicare and Medicaid patients.
http://www.investors.com/politics/c...icine-is-key-to-containing-health-care-costs/

Now think about the above statement! $320 billion spent on defensive medical practices that if the physicians realized the 1946 Tort Claims Act covered them...
would they be wasting that $320 billion???

 

[Siete]

feel better now

 

[healthmyths]

feel better now

It is a true shame that this $1 trillion waste is NOT explained to the general public.
There would be no need for Obamacare. Nor ever a health care crisis.
The ONLY losers if this $1 trillion waste was better known would be the lawyers!
And that's where I think the problem lies. Obama was a lawyer. 40% of Congress are lawyers!
Less than 40 percent in 2015. Lawyers no longer dominate Congress; is commercialization of profession to blame?
And then with The Office of Personnel Management telling us the number of practicing lawyers in all executive departments and agencies across the country: 31,797 How Many Lawyers Are There? | Washingtonian
it is NO wonder this atrocious figure is protected!
Maybe just maybe if MORE people knew about "defensive medicine"s affect on their health care insurance premiums maybe there would be less sympathy for lawyers!