Letter: Put caps on awards for malpractice

Tuesday, July 9, 2002 | 8:55 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan's July 6 column, "Skill of doctors saves lives," shows his rather appalling lack of understanding of the medical profession.

O'Callaghan does not believe that insurance premiums figure into the closing of the UMC trauma center, but in reality the entire issue is the malpractice insurance premiums.

Of course, mistakes are made by doctors, and some have no business practicing medicine. However, juries have a history of feeling sorry for the patient, and someone has to pay for adverse outcomes. The doctor is the logical choice, whether he/she is at fault or not, and the rewards are always very generous. Of course, the insurance company pays the outrageous judgment, then penalizes all of the doctors.

This makes doctors wary of taking on high-risk patients because doctors have families to feed and clothe and house payments to make just like everyone else. In addition, they also have medical school loans that probably total tens of thousands of dollars.

The UMC doctors could not afford to practice trauma surgery anymore, and the fault lies squarely with the malpractice lawyers and juries. Mr. O'Callaghan writing that he would be practicing medicine regardless is just disingenuous; he would not be practicing medicine at the UMC trauma center now, either. Caps on both the malpractice premiums and the jury awards remains the only way to correct the situation.

ROXANE ANDERS

Editor's note: The writer is a registered nurse.