Why tort reform makes people nervous

Conservatives have assailed Democrats for not including some sort of tort reform in the health care reform bill.

Some health care experts are convinced that frivolous lawsuits and outrageous jury awards are forcing doctors out of business, or causing them to practice expensive “defensive” medicine.

(Most experts say this is a tiny fraction of the healthcare cost problem.)

I’m comfortable with the idea of tort reform, but before we go too far down that road we need to make sure that far more information is available to consumers about their doctors, their local hospitals and nursing homes.

This case in Texas illustrates the level of secrecy that often surrounds physicians, medical boards, and patient complaints.

When nurse Anne Mitchell filed an anonymous complaint with the state medical board against a local doctor, he actually went to the police.

She now faces criminal charges.

As the New York Times reported:

The prosecutor said he would show that Mrs. Mitchell had a history of making “inflammatory” statements about Dr. Rolando G. Arafiles Jr. and intended to damage his reputation when she reported him last April to the Texas Medical Board, which licenses and disciplines doctors.

Mrs. Mitchell counters that as an administrative nurse, she had a professional obligation to protect patients from what she saw as a pattern of improper prescribing and surgical procedures — including a failed skin graft that Dr. Arafiles performed in the emergency room, without surgical privileges.

He also sutured a rubber tip to a patient’s crushed finger for protection, an unconventional remedy that was later flagged as inappropriate by the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Lawsuits may, in fact, be an inappropriate and costly way to hold doctors accountable when they make mistakes or act unprofessionally.

But in many states, it remains nearly impossible to find out if your doctor has faced complaints or sanctions for medical errors.

Do a Google search for medical errors and you’ll find that it’s hardly a marginal concern.

This from the US Department of Health and Human Services:

“Medical errors are one of the Nation’s leading causes of death and injury. A recent report by the Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of medical errors. This means that more people die from medical errors than from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS.”

Common sense tort reform is a good idea.

But with it should come clear and unambiguous sunshine laws that give consumers all the information they need about the safety records of their doctors.