Healthcare Transparency
12/21/09 17:48 Filed in: Medical
Malpractice | Tort Reform
At the federal level, debate rages over healthcare
reform. At the local level, still waters run deep.
The legislature created an ‘interim’ committee at the
close of last session to study health care
transparency and improvements. Despite meeting in
secret and also hiding its list of improvements from
legislative oversight committees, word is leaking out
that the interim folks are bent on making it more
difficult to bring suit if you are injured by medical
malpractice. Instead of transparency and creating a
healthcare system that actually works for patient’s
rights, the interim committee is bent on preserving
insurance profit.
So, in the upcoming local legislative session, expect to hear a lot about ‘tort reform,’ very little about transparency and patient’s rights.
In the meantime, you can take some steps: tell your legislator you want a Patient’s Bill of Rights; tell your legislator you want a public system where you can go to find out background information on your doctors, healthcare providers, nurses and hospitals... after all, you can already look up your local restaurant to find out how many times the health department has cited them for violations, shouldn’t you have access to the same information for those who hold your lives in your hands? Which is more important, finding out if Taco Bell left chicken out on the counter, or knowing that surgeon who is about to cut you has been sued for malpractice more than once?
So, in the upcoming local legislative session, expect to hear a lot about ‘tort reform,’ very little about transparency and patient’s rights.
In the meantime, you can take some steps: tell your legislator you want a Patient’s Bill of Rights; tell your legislator you want a public system where you can go to find out background information on your doctors, healthcare providers, nurses and hospitals... after all, you can already look up your local restaurant to find out how many times the health department has cited them for violations, shouldn’t you have access to the same information for those who hold your lives in your hands? Which is more important, finding out if Taco Bell left chicken out on the counter, or knowing that surgeon who is about to cut you has been sued for malpractice more than once?
