The Broken System In The Medical Field

This paper is shedding light on the flaws of Doctors vs Patients in malpractice lawsuits. Malpractice lawsuits are filled daily, and most of the time we don’t even hear about them. It is only when people make enough noise whether it be postings on social media or contacting the local news do these situations are brought to the public’s attentions. So once a lawsuit happens, are there really any winners? If the person does walkway with money, they are still left living with mistake the physician made.

Do the doctor win if he doesn’t have to pay the consequences of his actions? What happens to that physician next couple of patients. These are all questions that we as in the United States don’t have the correct answers to.

Doctors to some, are thought to be miracle workers and sometimes are looked up to like a God. Even though Christians know that the doctors are just the tools, for God is the one facilitating the miracles.

In our society a doctor’s profession is held on a pedal stool compared to most jobs. Doctors are seen every day from patients seeking their help, ranging from a common cold to a life threatening illness. As patients should, they trust their doctors to make the best decision regarding their health. So what happens when that miracle worker makes a mistake?

This unfortunately happen to my husband’s grandfather, Teddy. Teddy was diagnosed with colon cancer 4 years ago. Teddy was told that he would have to undergo surgery to cut the part of the colon out that had the cancer.

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After surgery he would have to go through a round of chemo to make sure they got it all. The day of the surgery the doctor came in to greet Teddy, and explained what was going to happen. Teddy said his goodbyes to his love ones, and was rolled off to surgery. A couple of hours later the doctor came out, and told the family that the surgery went well. After a couple of weeks Teddy went in to take some scans, to check the progress his healing prior his chemo appointment. After the doctor examine the scans, he asked Teddy “what surgery did he have again’? The doctor seen how confuse Teddy was by his question. So then the doctor stepped out the room and came back into with another doctor. It was then that both doctors advise Teddy he still had cancer. The doctors had to explain that Dr. Snyder had made a mistake and cut the good part of his colon out.

Teddy and his family filed a lawsuit that went on for months. There was a lot of going back and forth during this whole process. The insurance company felt the family wanted too much for someone of Teddy’s aged and how aggressive the cancer was. The thought was someone in their 70s didn’t have much time left, even for someone that doesn’t have cancer. However, when it was all said and done the family did end up settling

About 2 years after that my grandmother Barb went in to the hospital, and was order to have emergency surgery. The doctor that informed her of this was Dr. Snyder. Barb knew what happened to Teddy, and who performed his surgery. Barb tried to come up with different reasons of why she couldn’t have the surgery done that night. She even asked if they could wait till morning in hopes another doctor would come in to perform the surgery. Dr. Synder advised that the operation couldn’t wait until the morning and had to be done right then. Barb ultimately decided to have the surgery done, and said a silent prayer as she was rolled off to surgery.

Does anyone see the problem in what just happen? Dr. Sudip Bose wrote an article for the Huffpost in 2017 called “The Case Against Our Current Malpractice System”. In that article he mentions that 90% of the lawsuits are handled outside of court. That means that 90% of those doctor’s patients are settling and the doctor is then able to practice medicine. Barb was lucky enough to know the full risk of letting Dr. Snyder perform her surgery. However, most people never know how many malpractice lawsuits a doctor has underneath their belt. Patients are required to sign forms that advises of the risk that come with having surgery. However, there is no form that shows patients how many lawsuits their doctor has or that are still pending. Any surgery is risky, but does a doctor’s ability make the risk greater? How can patients be bond by a piece of paper if they don’t know the whole truth? So even if the person gets money with choosing to settle, how is that fair for next person in line that gets their surgery scheduled by that doctor.

I would also like to mention that doctors get the short end of the stick as well. There are people in the world that just look for an opportunity to sue just because they can. So then the doctor insurance has to pay out. Here our some statics that were retrieved.

• Sixty-three percent of medical malpractice claims filed were associated with medical errors; therefore, 37 percent were not associated with errors. However, of those, 28 percent still got compensation (at an average of $313,205). (Bose 2017)
• Of those medical malpractice claims associated with medical errors, 73 percent of them settled (with an average compensation $521,560). (Bos 2017)
•  The majority of expenditures (54 percent) go toward litigation over these medical errors and compensation for them. (Bose 2017)

Carolyn J. Sachs, Md,MPH wrote and article called “ Malpractice Claims: It’s a crapshoot-Time to Stop the Self-Blame and Ask Different Questions.” Advise that 75% of physicians will have a lawsuit against them. If physician works until the age of 65 then the percentage goes up to 95%. Bose also states that “surgeons with an active lawsuit in the previous 2 years are 1.64 times more likely to consider suicide in the subsequent year”.

Now some might think well “that’s why we have insurance, right?” Wrong! Another huge point I would like to shed some light one to is the fact that there is no federal law that requires doctors to carry a medical malpractice insurance, in all stats. According to Donovan Weger Roughly, who wrote an article called for Going Bare, there are “32 states require not

medical malpractice insurance and have no minimum carrying requirements. The other 18 states break down roughly into two groups — states that require minimum levels of insurance and states that require medical professionals to have some insurance to qualify for liability reforms in their state.” ( Weger)

Here are the following states that malpractice insurance isn’t required:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. (Weger)

From a Christian standpoint, Greed plays a huge role in the broken system. Some not all, patients sue just for the money. Sometimes complications can arise, from the patient not following protocol. For instance, a patient not keeping the area clean after having surgery. The patient could find some loot or find something that the doctor didn’t do prior, during or after surgery, and then they have a lawsuit. Greed is also shown in the doctors that don’t want to spend the extra money for the insurance. It is the Greed and our mistakes, that make us not God. We are all human, and mistakes are made and deserve forgiveness. However, there are consequences to our mistake, and it’s nobody fault but the doctors for not getting the insurance to aid them after a mistake has been made.

The Bible states “ And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heat of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, theft, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within and defile the man” (Mark 7:20-23).

References

1. [bookmark: _tkqnim2886zc]Bose, S. (2017, November 29). The Case Against Our Current Malpractice System. Retrieved February 28, 2019, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-case-against-our-current-malpractice-system_us_5a1f4595e4b0dff40be0362f
2. Teddy’s Experience [Telephone interview]. (2019, February 02).
3. Kruse, T. (2019, February 20). Barb’s Experience [Telephone interview].
4. Mark 7 – KJV Bible. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2019, from https://www.biblestudytools.com/kjv/mark/7.html
5. Weger, D. (n.d.). Gallagher Healthcare :: Industry Insights Blog. Retrieved February 28, 2019, from https://www.gallaghermalpractice.com/blog/post/going-bare-are-doctors-required-to-have-malpractice-insurance
6. [bookmark: __DdeLink__130_2996448569][bookmark: __DdeLink__130_2996448569]