|
|
|
Coverage of the Common Good Forum in Wyoming - Patient Safety and Reducing Medical Errors: Exploring Options October 15, 2007 Dr. Larry Kirven, a physician at Buffalo Family Medical Center, said little has been done to improve patient safety. Rather, he said, the existing system instills fear in physicians and causes them to practice defensive medicine. "It's the fear that malpractice is a threat," Dr. Kirven said. - The Billings Gazette
"Right now, all the strategies focus on what has already occurred," Dr. Allen Kachalia said. "There is no mechanism to prevent errors in the future." - Casper Star-Tribune
"Here in Wyoming, the cost of medical litigation has a great effect on our state. According to a study that was released at the end of last year, nearly one-third of our doctors are considering leaving Wyoming. Many of them pointed to the cost of their malpractice insurance as a factor," Senator Michael Enzi said. - Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
Wyoming State Senator Charles Scott: "My prediction is sooner or later we will have another malpractice crisis in this state, and we're going to need some different remedies. Because I think the remedy of putting a cap on damages is no longer one we can seriously look at here. That was rejected by the people; it's gone. So we need some different options." Scott went on to say the proposed changes show promise. "Because it improves the compensation that the patients get, it broadens the number of people who are hurt to get compensation, and it improves patient safety," he said. "At the same time, it gets away from some of the aspects of the current malpractice system that the physicians dislike the most." - Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
Resolving medical injury claims creates adversarial relationships between physicians and their patients and does little to foster a culture of improved medical care. - Wyoming Business Report
Read more about the event.
| |
