I totally agree with the union idea. The system stops entirely without you guys, and yet you're the ones getting the shaft from all sides. And at this point, the only wiggle room you seem to have is with the patient -- shorter visits, extra fees, etc. But of course that makes us poor & surly, & more inclined to sue when something goes wrong.

I'm not starry-eyed about unions; I grew up in a steel town. But I think at some point you have to do like TR did about Somoza: "He's a bast@rd, but he's our bast@rd." Unions are not generally nice, but they're often on your side.

amy

I think the problem is less lack of responsibility than lack of reasoning skills, lack of ethics, and an overwhelming need to be right. We still live in a country where half the people think the sun goes around the earth, and most people are incapable of telling a story in some coherent, chronological order. An awful lot of people cannot distinguish between prejudice and reasoned opinion.

So you get someone who's upset about a bad outcome, a lawyer or family friend who convinces them you'll pay for it, and your culpability isn't going to be rigidly examined. Even if they're squeamish about it at first, they'll quickly convince themselves they're completely in the right and you're a dangerous incompetent. With people like that, the word "responsibility" is meaningless. They don't see themselves as having any -- it's all your fault, remember? The best you can hope to do, I think, is scare them out of filing suit.

amy

I recently read a story where a woman filed a frivolous lawsuit, lost, and then couldn't believe it when her doctor refused to see her anymore. She was like, "but he was so nice, how will I find another doctor I like?". :rolleyes: It's as if some people are so self-centered that they can not understand the consequences of their own actions. :boggled:

I am going into family med, and I love to do OB, but almost no family docs do it anymore, because it costs so much you can't afford the insurance because you don't do as many deliveries as a full-time OB/Gyn does. Maybe in a rural area I still could, but with a surgeon-to-be husband, that is not really an option.

Lots of docs talk about refusing to treat lawyers until they turn their act around, but I don't think that is really a reasonable solution. I also think part of the problem is that regular people don't have a good grasp on what is really going on. Like my mom, who is well educated, keeps up with the news, etc: the other day I was telling her about the problems with malpractice reform, and she did not realize that lawyers are the ones fighting it tooth and nail. She also did not know that they get nearly half of all the settlements.

I don't know what the solution is, but I hope someone thinks of something soon! :ouch:

There was a recent article in the Baltimore Sun about a local doc who sent a letter asking his patients to contribut $10 each to cover his higher malpractice bill and allow him to stay in practice. It worked!