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.
News to End the Week
- Setting the Record on the “Malpractice Crisis” Straight in Maryland. Today’s Baltimore Sun contains an eye-opening opinion piece that calls for victims of medical malpractice to be treated fairly.
- According to the AP News, some doctors are returning to the tradition of making house calls, but are now carrying more than their small black “doctor’s bag.”
- British physicians warn against judging them by claims of medical malpractice made against them.
- Septuagenarian Lothariaos, disclose now, or forever hold your piece. A report by Debra Cassens Weiss at ABAJournal.com supports that advice with a dramatic lesson, involving the loss of a heap of money, and a BMW, all in the context of a California negligence case.
Swearing In of NY’s New Chief Judge Has Obama/Roberts Moment
The Albany Times Union reports that when Justice Carmen Ciparick, the interim Chief Judge of New York’s Court of Appeals, began the process of swearing in Jonathan Lippman as Chief Judge, she may have let her disappointment at not getting the job herself show. Apparently, when she instructed Mr. Lippman to raise his hand for the oath, she raised hers too by mistake.
The Times Union suggested that Justice Ciparick, the only Latina, and one of two females on the Court of Appeals’ prestigious bench, may have felt slighted by the selection process for the new chief judge, which failed to include any female candidates.