Lew, about that Fox channel... Have you noticed it is in lockstep with the Bush campaign to give the impression that malpractice attorneys are the sole cause of high and rising health-care costs? Why? Because trial lawyers aren't big donors to the GOP.
Earlier this week on The Fox Report, a short segment was aired purportedly demonstrating that the recently enacted caps on awards in Texas have reduced costs. As evidence, a fleeting graphic showing a drop in the number of lawsuits over two years was displayed.
The real story is more complicated than the Foxers let on. Malpractice premiums charged by the top insurer dropped impressively, but the premiums paid to the top four only declined 3%. Not many doctors are confident these declines will continue, and the head of the Texas Medical Assoc. thinks cost reductions may never be passed on to patients.
Very interesting are physician and attorney Harvey Wachsman's recent comments on the issue. After making a reference to the IOM and Health Grades reports showing an average of 268-534 preventable deaths in hospitals every day, he concludes
The malpractice crisis is not about lawyers and lawsuits. It is about the tremendous amount of malpractice being committed. And it is about the conspiracy of silence that keeps the public in the dark.
