Ex Practitioner Data Bank Exec No Fan of “Tort Reform”

Robert Oshel, a former associate director of the Division of the Practitioner Data Banks at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, spoke out recently in the Baltimore Sun.  (H/T to  Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog.)  In response to the concerns of physicians worried about increasing malpractice insurance rates, Mr. Oshel wrote, “The solution to high malpractice insurance premiums is less malpractice, not limits on compensating injured patients.”

According to Mr. Oshel, studies performed at the Data Bank showed that most payouts in malpractice cases stemmed from a very small number of physicians who incurred multiple claims.  Such physicians should be issued appropriate sanctions, including license revocation, said Oshel, while patients harmed as a result of their errors should not be restricted from receiving fair compensation.