Special Health Courts

Long time readers know that I admire Common Good’s approach to tort reform. Apparently the NY Times had good things to say on their editorial page a couple of weeks ago – unfortunately I missed it and am not willing to pay to read the entire editorial.

Common Good comments – New York Times: It’s Time to Try Special Health Courts

They quote from the editorial

We hold no brief for the current medical liability system, which does a poor job of compensating most victims of medical malpractice. An authoritative study of thousands of patients in New York State found that the vast majority who were harmed by medical errors or negligence never filed suit, whereas the vast majority of those who did file suit were not actually harmed by negligent doctors. Some studies suggest that, once a suit is filed, the courts do a reasonably good job of sorting out who deserves compensation, while other research has found that juries are swayed more by the severity of a plaintiff’s injuries than by evidence of negligence. But in a medical system that is coming under increased fire for failing to deliver consistent quality in hospital care, it is clear that only a small number of people are being compensated for malpractice.

Common Good continues:

Not only does the current system fail to reliably compensate injured patients, it also fails to weed out bad doctors. The Times recognized the need for a system that effectively “weed[s] out the small number of negligent doctors responsible for generating most malpractice awards.”

The Times also recognized the need for consistent damage awards: “Congress ought to consider requiring guidelines for judges and juries to help determine what compensation is reasonable in a given circumstance.”

As proposed by Common Good, special health courts would award damages–in addition to a patient’s medical costs and lost income–according to a pre-determined schedule established by experts.

This is one of few organizations that I support with money. I commend all readers to read their documents and opinions. I find their last paragraph encouraging:

Common Good is working with the Harvard School of Public Health to design special health courts.

Bravo!