Our Unsafe Healthcare System Is The Issue, Not Caps On Tort Settlements

A little-noticed proposal in the President's budget managed to squeak by without a ripple in the media, or comment from savvy political pundits and progressive activists. The President is offering $250 million dollars over four years to the states to test ways to curb medical malpractice tort, further denying the rights of victims to seek justice and redress for medical malpractice. Our President appears to have bought into the conservative flim-flam of frivolous lawsuits and lottery-sized payouts, both of which are non-existent. Even though this issue has been buried for decades, what better time to resurrect it than now, since the budget and deficit are on the minds of all those newly minted deficit "hawks" in DC?

If we're going to have one of those "adult conversations" on this issue, Mr. President, then we need to look at what is the real contributor to the impact medical costs have on the deficit. Congress and the medical community are in denial when it comes to the great harm and costs medical malpractice and in-hospital adverse events from drug reactions, infections, surgery, unnecessary procedures, etc. impose on our health care system, while also inflicting pain and suffering on a generally unsuspecting public. Millions of victims have been invisible and voiceless for too long, with no massive protests in the streets and few advocacy organizations speaking for the them, with one notable exception: Public Citizen and its Health Research Group, which has been fighting for patient safety for decades, researching the system's failures and offering up solutions. Public Citizen has been instrumental in removing some of the most dangerous drugs from the market, and their book "Worst Pills, Best Pills" (http://worstpills.org/) by Dr. Sidney Wolfe, Director of their Health Research Group, is an invaluable resource for all who care about their own health and safety.

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