Malpractice may not be difficult to completely eliminate. Researcher identified a major cause of malpractice of doctor overwork and fatigue. If doctors were well rested and not overworked than malpractice could be greatly reduced or maybe even eliminated. Could it be that easy?
Medical malpractice is a fairly complex lawsuit where a personal injury lawyer proves the doctor did not follow the standard of care expected in the field of medicine. It is possible to have a successful operation, but the patient dies anyway. The standard of malpractice is not the success or failure of the procedure, but the standard of due care is the care the doctor displayed during the course of the procedure. The standard of due care is all about not making avoidable mistakes.
If doctors are well educated and trained in their fields of practice then errors due to competency should be few. This leads the main cause of malpractice to lie with the doctor being too tired and fatigued.
A couple of years ago a study came out in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that showed a new safety program implemented in several New York hospitals OB/GYN departments had reduced the malpractice payouts. The safety program had been in effect for three years and had reduced the malpractice payouts by 99%. This is an incredible reduction. One more percentage point and malpractice payouts would have been totally eliminated. While the amount of malpractice payouts could be due to a good hospital injury lawyer or to the lack of good catastrophic injury lawyers or a willing plaintiff's brain injury lawyer, it probably wasn't.
The plan was very simple; it involved a good communication system using electronic communication devices. It also increased the number of staff. Each hospital hired three more physicians' assistants and a "laborest", an OB/GYN that worked full time for the hospital. These additional staff numbers made sure the doctors was not fatigued and tired and there was always someone there to help.
In the US the hospitals have a big incentive to reduce medical malpractice. Malpractice lawsuits can cost millions of dollars in pain and suffering as well as punitive damages. Most states don't have a cap on these damages. Now hospitals know that the cost of extra staff, while very expensive, is less than the cost of medical malpractice claims. The economics of the situation came out in favor of safety. What if the economics came out the other way?
Medical malpractice is a fairly complex lawsuit where a personal injury lawyer proves the doctor did not follow the standard of care expected in the field of medicine. It is possible to have a successful operation, but the patient dies anyway. The standard of malpractice is not the success or failure of the procedure, but the standard of due care is the care the doctor displayed during the course of the procedure. The standard of due care is all about not making avoidable mistakes.
If doctors are well educated and trained in their fields of practice then errors due to competency should be few. This leads the main cause of malpractice to lie with the doctor being too tired and fatigued.
A couple of years ago a study came out in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology that showed a new safety program implemented in several New York hospitals OB/GYN departments had reduced the malpractice payouts. The safety program had been in effect for three years and had reduced the malpractice payouts by 99%. This is an incredible reduction. One more percentage point and malpractice payouts would have been totally eliminated. While the amount of malpractice payouts could be due to a good hospital injury lawyer or to the lack of good catastrophic injury lawyers or a willing plaintiff's brain injury lawyer, it probably wasn't.
The plan was very simple; it involved a good communication system using electronic communication devices. It also increased the number of staff. Each hospital hired three more physicians' assistants and a "laborest", an OB/GYN that worked full time for the hospital. These additional staff numbers made sure the doctors was not fatigued and tired and there was always someone there to help.
In the US the hospitals have a big incentive to reduce medical malpractice. Malpractice lawsuits can cost millions of dollars in pain and suffering as well as punitive damages. Most states don't have a cap on these damages. Now hospitals know that the cost of extra staff, while very expensive, is less than the cost of medical malpractice claims. The economics of the situation came out in favor of safety. What if the economics came out the other way?
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