An emergency physician’s wish for tort reform.

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By Marty Ogle MD

As an emergency physician and part of a national emergency physician partnership - I keep hoping for the best in regards to tort reform. If only pigs could fly.

As you likely know, Tort reform refers to proposed changes in the system that would reduce tort litigation or damages. "Tort" is a system for compensating wrongs and harm done by one party to another's person, property or other protected interests. Sounds pretty logical, but of course, as in many things in the U.S., tort reform is a contentious political issue.

Nowhere is this more apparent than with healthcare tort reform as it relates to eliminating the "friction" in the system that wastes dollars. These wasted dollars are most often diverted to lawyers, malpractice insurance companies, etc.

Aside from billing costs - which could ultimately be reduced by requiring one standard billing form/procedure for ALL payors- medical malpractice coverage is the single largest expense in an emergency medicine practice. And yet, tort reform appears to be off the table - hmmm, I wonder if it's because most members of the U.S Congress and Senate are lawyers...nah!!!

So what to do? You can certainly let your representatives know that tort reform needs to be back on the table; that true, cost-effective healthcare reform can't happen without it. It may seem like our government isn't listening. Or they're listening to the wrong people. But if enough of us raise our voices, funny things can happen.  Like real, honest tort reform?

Here are two excellent links: 

http://www.calacep.org/advocacy/  (Advocacy Section)

http://www.acep.org/   (Advocacy Section)

I look forward to your comments.