Is Med Liability Shield Necessary?
To cut down on medical errors by healthcare providers, we need to know when errors take place and why. But how can you expect people to report their own mistakes if the result is a malpractice suit filed against them?
That is the conundrum facing Congress as a bill is debated that would exempt someone from a malpractice suit if they report medical errors voluntarily to help improve the quality of care and bolster patient safety.
Proponents of S. 2590 say that this is the only way to get a handle on the tens-of-thousands of medical errors being made today. The goal, these supporters say, is to allow everyone to learn from the industry's mistakes. Neil Trautwein, director of employment policy for the National Association of Manufacturers, argues that protecting healthcare workers from “rampant medical malpractice litigation” will more effectively unearth medical errors and avoid future mistakes.
While this bill would be an insurance company or risk manager's dream come true, it is going to be a hard sell, and rightfully so. It is important to encourage healthcare facilities to record their mistakes so that we can get a true picture of what's wrong with the system and take steps to fix it. However, should doctors and hospitals who make serious mistakes that hurt patients be able to shield themselves from malpractice suits simply by 'fessing up? That's a stretch.
Congress is going to have to see a more detailed cost-benefit analysis before signing off on this particular piece of tort reform legislation. We need reliable data on medical errors, but we also need a system that fairly compensates victims of malpractice. A system that fails to accomplish both does not deserve to be passed into law.
Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, June 17, 2002. Copyright 2002 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.
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