 November 2002 • Volume 8 • Number 11 |
 Philip Howard, J.D., urges family physicians to get involved in changing America's "lawsuit culture." |
It's a topic that strikes a chord with FPs and patients alike: America's "lawsuit culture." Patients are the biggest losers in this climate of justice run amok, said keynote speaker and attorney Philip Howard, J.D., during the AAFP Scientific Assembly Oct. 16 20 in San Diego. However, those who deliver health care are harmed as well.
Fear of the legal system has physicians hamstrung, Howard said.
"Because they distrust justice, physicians no longer feel free to act out their
best
judgment."
It's time to question long-held assumptions about the legal system and our rights as citizens, said Howard. The perceived "right" to sue, in particular, Howard finds troubling.
Howard is author of The Death of Common Sense and The Collapse of the Common Good and is chair of Common Good, a new bipartisan coalition dedicated to overhauling America's lawsuit culture.
Common Good is proposing a radical departure from the status quo, he said. "The only way to restore health to health care, we believe, is to establish an entirely new system of medical justice that affirmatively protects reasonable judgment as well as provides a mechanism for accountability for errors."
What the coalition has found has been startling: Most physicians distrust the justice system.
Thus, instead of practicing good medicine, physicians practice defensive medicine, said Howard. In a nationwide survey of medical professionals, many physicians admitted to ordering unnecessary tests, making unnecessary referrals and prescribing unnecessary drugs, all citing legal fear, said Howard.
Courts have proved unpredictable. The practice of medicine in the 21st century is complicated, but judgments are decided by lay judges and lay courts. "No one has any idea what a court will do," said Howard. "We've lost the protection of law."
Enter into the fray the public's naivete. People often do not understand that the cost of large jury awards is passed on to the population at large through increased insurance premiums.
During a question-and-answer session, an attendee asked how to neutralize the influence of wealthy trial lawyers. "Trial lawyers have made millions of dollars but have done nothing to add to the growth of America. They're robbers," Howard said simply. He told FPs that they should not underestimate their own credibility. "The power of ideas is much stronger than the power of money," he said.
Another asked his views on tort reform. Tort reformers focus on setting caps on jury awards, missing the point that the problem originates with the right to sue, Howard said.
Howard urged attendees to get their patients involved and to write down their own personal accounts of how their lives have changed as a result of the legal system. Common Good has a Web site -- http://ourcommongood.com -- set up for people to give feedback.
And in a gesture of reciprocity, AAFP President James Martin, M.D., of San Antonio addressed a special conference held by Common Good, the organization chaired by Howard. Martin spoke to that group Oct. 29 to describe how the medical liability crisis has touched him.
FP Report is published by the
AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2002 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.