|
|
|
Code Blue: The Case for Serious State Medical Liability Reform Randolph W. Pate, J.D., M.P.H., and Derek Hunter
The Heritage Foundation, January 17, 2006 A new report by the Heritage Foundation declares health courts an “innovative solution” to our current broken tort system that would “enhance consumers’ rights while increasing access to quality and affordable medical care.” A the report relates, our current system is inadequate for resolving medical malpractice cases for several reasons: it has high administrative costs; too few injured patients are compensated; juries often cannot easily interpret complex medical information; and jury awards are inconsistent and unreliable. Health courts can help solve these problems.
In a health court system, judges with specialized training in medicine would adjudicate cases assisted by court-appointed expert witnesses and write decisions clarifying what constitutes an appropriate standard of care. “Medically trained judges will be better able to wade through difficult evidence to get to the real facts,” and their opinions become “part of a consistently applied body of law to which physicians can look with more certainty.”
Click to read the report.
| |
