Scherz On Tort Reform And Liability

Dr. Hal Scherz of D4PC has a new OpEd in TownHall.com, "Trial Lawyers and Insurance Cos are True Beneficiaries of Medical System".

One of his key takehome points is that ObamaCare fails to address a critical cause of skyrocketing health costs -- "defensive medicine" and the dysfunctional tort system.

The system doesn't just affect the relatively few patients injured by negligent physicians. Instead, everyone pays in the form of higher costs from unnecessary tests and treatments.

I do a lot of emergency radiology, so I've spoken at length with good ER doctors who are essentially compelled to order extra x-rays, MRIs, and CT scans that aren't medically necessary -- but legally necessary to protect themselves from frivolous lawsuits.

And this problem extends to nearly every specialty in medicine.

Fixing the broken legal system would go a long ways towards helping reduce health care costs, without compromising quality.