Health care and frivolous lawsuits essays

Health care and frivolous lawsuits essays On December 13, 2002, Dr. K. Ruff was named in a lawsuit in a case in which she was not responsible. A few months prior, a patient was flown into Dr. Ruffs hospital. He had a cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and by the time he arrived at the hospital, a lack of blood flow to his lower extremities had become fatal. The patient went to the intensive care unit in the middle of the night, and Dr. Ruff was involved with him for less than ten minuets before he died. Later, Dr. Ruff became one of the twenty-three people named in a lawsuit concerning the mans death. It took seventeen months, six motions, and a deposition, during which she told the plaintiffs attorneys she had nothing to do with the case, before her name was dropped. In that time, Dr. Ruffs medical liability insurance came up for renewal. The insurer told Ruff that they would not renew her contract. Although she scrambled to find an insurer, Ruff could not afford any claims-made policies. Consequently, Dr. Ruff was forced to abandon her practice. On January 5, 2004, Tony Dias, a father of two, suffered head injuries in a serious car accident. He was rushed to the nearest hospital, but the only doctor able to perform the life-saving surgery Tony needed, Dr. Ruff, had been recently forced to quit. Tony was airlifted to another hospital, but this took six hours and the damage became irreversible. Tony and his family lived in an area with fine hospitals. They had paid for good health insurance. They did everything right. But Tony did not get the help he needed because lawsuit abuse had driven Doctor Ruff away. While many physicians may feel unfairly attacked when they are named in medical malpractice lawsuits, not every case is a frivolous one. There must be a balance in the justice system: one that prevents people from being sued frivolously yet does not deny people access to justice. A frivolous lawsuit is one in which any reasonable re...