It does not matter how much money is thrown at the health care system, it will not stop medical malpractice.
It doesn’t take much to understand the nation is still in a crisis, in more ways than one. While the economy is paramount, so is immigration and health care. Or to be more precise, medical malpractice is still a major issue, despite the many programs being launched to apologize for, explain and settle a case. The plain fact is that the less money we have as an economy, the more stress it places on all the systems we use. And, the more stress there is, the more defensive and adversarial the medical system becomes.
These days, physicians, patients and hospital staff are subconsciously on tender-hooks, waiting for the other shoe to drop. They are aware that on any given day that something may go wrong with a medication or procedure and that someone may sue them. Patients are aware they may be harmed. It’s a revolving door of explosive blame, waiting to go off. And implode it does some days when the most bizarre things happen: the case of the mother with sepsis, not diagnosed in time, resulting in both hands and feet being amputated; the case of the man who went in for hernia repair and died of an internal injury caused by the surgery that was not caught in time to save him.
A snapshot of the health care system would show understaffed hospitals and clinics, overcrowded waiting rooms, overbooked doctors with no time to spend with patients, and the people just keep coming in. Lack of time, under diagnosis, under treatment, over diagnosis, too much treatment, too many people and prescriptions written in haste has also led to pharmaceutical malpractice.
Where do all these issues leave a patient? Mostly up in the air, not knowing who to trust; the Internet or the real doctor. Doctors are now seeing more patients who regard their recommendations and prescriptions with sincere mistrust. Many patients have second thoughts about filling their prescriptions. It’s a scary world out there and yet, we still need to rely on doctors for their training, skill and expertise to help us with medical issues. And what is something does go wrong? What recourse does the patient have?
Thankfully, the patient still has, in most states, recourse to sue a medical professional for medical negligence. Unfortunately, there are some states that believe in tort reform and cap medical malpractice damages, which results in serious repercussions for the victim who must try and live the rest of their lives with compromised health, thanks to medical malpractice.
Perhaps the question we need an answer to, both as medical malpractice lawyers and as patients/victims, is what happened to turn the health care system into what it is today? We can’t fix anything, until we understand the cause, and that goes for doctors trying to diagnosis a patient. Instead what we have is a flawed medical care system, which at times chews up patients, who in turn sue with the assistance of medical malpractice lawyers.
Christopher Mellino is a Cleveland Malpractice Lawyer specializing in Cleveland Medical Malpractice cases in Ohio. To learn more, visit Christophermellino.com.
