New York Times: It’s Time to Try Special Health Courts Editorial
The New York Times, January 9, 2005 The New York Times has called on Congress to launch a "wide range of demonstration projects," including special health courts, to solve the problem of unreliable medical justice.
A broad coalition of health care experts and patient safety advocates, spearheaded by Common Good, is working to create special health courts that would reliably compensate injured patients, weed out bad doctors, and protect doctors who did nothing wrong.
The New York Times wrote:
We hold no brief for the current medical liability system, which does a poor job of compensating most victims of medical malpractice. An authoritative study of thousands of patients in New York State found that the vast majority who were harmed by medical errors or negligence never filed suit, whereas the vast majority of those who did file suit were not actually harmed by negligent doctors. Some studies suggest that, once a suit is filed, the courts do a reasonably good job of sorting out who deserves compensation, while other research has found that juries are swayed more by the severity of a plaintiff's injuries than by evidence of negligence. But in a medical system that is coming under increased fire for failing to deliver consistent quality in hospital care, it is clear that only a small number of people are being compensated for malpractice.
Not only does the current system fail to reliably compensate injured patients, it also fails to weed out bad doctors. The Times recognized the need for a system that effectively "weed[s] out the small number of negligent doctors responsible for generating most malpractice awards."
The Times also recognized the need for consistent damage awards: "Congress ought to consider requiring guidelines for judges and juries to help determine what compensation is reasonable in a given circumstance."
As proposed by Common Good, special health courts would award damages--in addition to a patient's medical costs and lost income--according to a pre-determined schedule established by experts.
Other demonstration projects recommended by the Times include "required mediation, mandatory reporting of errors by doctors and prompt offers of compensation."
Special health courts have been endorsed by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (read more) and national health care leaders including Bill Roper, Dean, School of Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Troyen Brennan, Harvard School of Public Health; and Dr. Herb Pardes, President and CEO, New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Common Good is working with the Harvard School of Public Health to design special health courts.
Read the New York Times editorial. (Article archived.)
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