Editorial: Arbitration document not fair to patients

Friday, Aug. 8, 2003 | 4:43 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: August 10, 2003

A small number of doctors in Nevada are pressuring patients, before they are treated, to sign away their rights to file a malpractice lawsuit in the event of a bad outcome. Patients who sign agree to live with the decision of an arbitrator instead of taking the case to court. The doctors see this as a way of lowering their medical malpractice insurance premiums, whose huge increases they blame on juries that award settlements way out of proportion to damages.

Patients, who are likely to be under duress, should not be asked to make such a decision before treatment. We agree with the American Arbitration Association that such arrangements are unfair to patients. The association decided in January that its members would no longer accept such cases. There is a question about whether such agreements are legally valid -- lawyers are divided on the issue. In our view, they are certainly not valid from an ethical standpoint. Patients should be treated, right away, and not be pressured at that time to choose between their health and their rights.