“Those who want to lower health care costs should find ways to reduce deaths that are caused by medical errors. Eliminating malpractice would lead to fewer cases being filed, and even better, patients would be safer and have better outcomes.”
“Patients Have the Right to Hold Doctors Accountable”
Press of Atlantic City, 10/04/09
“'Our health care system is clearly broken, and if we are serious about improving it, we need to fix preventable medical errors,’ AAJ President Anthony Tarricone said in a statement.”
"Trial Lawyers Fight Back on Malpractice"
Boston Globe, 09/22/09
"Many opponents of Mr. Obama's reform plans point to tort reform as a kind of silver bullet to reducing health care costs. Like many of their claims, the facts don't bear that out."
"Health Care and the Myth of Tort Reform"
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 09/15/09
"The push for tort reform rests largely on anecdotal evidence of the occasional large jury verdict or outrageous lawsuit. Despite the perception that 'jackpot justice' has fueled soaring costs, hard data yield a much different picture."
"Would Tort Reform Make a Difference in Health Care?"
Kansas City Star, 08/30/09
“Malpractice is about one percent of health care spending, even if you add defensive medicine that doctors do to prevent lawsuits. It’s a tiny, tiny fraction. You could solve the entire malpractice problem; you would still have a big problem with health care costs. It’s important to some doctors in some specialties, but it's really not what’s driving health care costs. It’s a lot of new technology and a lot of demanding patients.”
“All Things Considered”
National Public Radio, 07/27/09
“Protecting doctors from lawsuits may do more to gain political cover for President Barack Obama’s health-care overhaul than to rein in medical costs. While Obama vowed to address physicians’ malpractice worries in a speech yesterday, the annual jury awards and legal settlements involving doctors amounts to ‘a drop in the bucket’ in a country that spends $2.3 trillion annually on health care, said Amitabh Chandra, an economist at Harvard University, in a telephone interview.”
“Malpractice Lawsuits Are ‘Red Herring’ in Obama Health Plan”
Bloomberg News, 06/16/09
