Paper Example on Medical Malpractice and Tort Reform

Introduction

Medical malpractice entails all sorts of legal causes of actions that take place when medical practitioners deviate from the standard operations in the line of profession and therefore cause harm to the parties or people who are within the health care system. Medical malpractice has been in existence for a long while, and some laws have been put in place to make sure that people remain on the right track. The medical practitioners take part in medical malpractice as they want to accomplish some tasks and missions in their line of work. In that case, they seek to find out ways in which they will be able to achieve them without being detected whatsoever (Josefa, 2018). In most cases, they usually are caught and taken to the court of law to be answerable to everything that has taken place.

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The common law is on the notion that medical malpractice is based on negligence and all the laws that have been set aside should focus on it in that line. There are a lot of differences that exist in the laws of medical malpractice and the rules of liability come whenever the medical practitioners behave in a manner that is not acceptable or that which endangers the life of the patients (Josefa, 2018). The practitioners are supposed to be people who can be able to exhibit some form of high degree skills when assigned some task. This means that everyone expects them to be in line with the law and also behave in a manner that is acceptable at all times.

Whenever medical malpractice is conducted, there is a group of people that is liable and are supposed to be answerable to everything that has occurred. They include the physicians, the surgeons, the psychiatrists and also the dentists. In some cases, the nurses and assistants are also accountable, and they are supposed to come up with a report that explains everything that is taking place. Medical malpractices lead to adverse consequences, and that means that all the law enforcement authorities should be in the first line to make sure that people are behaving in a manner that is acceptable.

Some of the ways in which people take part in medical malpractice include failing to take part in a proper diagnosis of the patients. In that case, it means that one is likely to end up treating a patient whereas the kind of diagnosis that was done was not correct. The malpractice can also occur when the doctors or nurses fail to provide appropriate treatment to the patients regardless of the medical conditions that they are experiencing (Josefa, 2018). The unreasonable delay is also the other way in which medical malpractice can take place. In this case, the patient can end up losing his or her life because he or she was not attended to as it was expected. The principles of informed consent are supposed to be adhered to, and that means the practitioner who does not do that will be arraigned in the court of law to be answerable especially when the repercussions end up to be negative (Josefa, 2018). There are also instances when the medical practitioners decline to offer treatment of the patients, and thus they end up dying or having conditions that are worse. In that case, the malpractice will have taken place because there are no legitimate reasons for doing so.

State Laws That Limit Medical Malpractice Award

Various state laws limit medical malpractice award, and they are supposed to be understood. Many states have been able to pass some laws that restrict the kind of compensation that is placed on medical malpractice cases (Med, 2016). If at all the laws were not enforced, the many patients could have ended being injured and losing their lives. The primary purpose of the laws is to make sure that the patients are whole again. In that case, the laws seek to make sure that the patients get sufficient compensation when looked from the perspective of the financial decisions that they make.

Two commonly known caps have been put in place to deal with medical malpractice. The first one is based on total damage awards while the second one is on non-economic damages. The caps that are placed on total damage are not typical as compared to the ones that are based on non-economic damages (Med, 2016). The non-economic damages involve a compensation that is placed when the patients undergo some form of pain or when they suffer out of any activity that has taken place as a result of the malpractice.

The states that have placed caps on the non-economic damages are on the notion that, there is no limit on the amount of money that one is supposed to pay after being found guilty of the act. Also, there is no limit that is placed on the lost income and financial difficulties that arise out of such actions. This means that people who engage in medical malpractice are likely to pay hefty fines primarily when they are found guilty. This is an excellent way of making sure that there is a significant limit in the medical malpractice award. Most of the practitioners will end up being on the right track when they find themselves in these circumstances.

The caps that are placed on total award have got a profound effect especially to those who have had severe injuries or medical conditions. Whenever a doctor makes a minor mistake that affects the patient though mildly, the patient will be compensated as a whole and this means that the damages will not go further than the cap's provisions (Med, 2016). If the doctor makes a major mistake, the patient will not be treated entirely as there are limits that are placed on the amount of money that is supposed to be paid for the damages.

Even though the laws are applicable and they prevent medical practitioners from taking part I malpractices, there are instances when they do not suffice. Patients who have been subjected to negligent medical treatment find it difficult to get a lawyer because the amount of money that is placed on such cases has a limit. Those who benefit from the process are the ones who have been subjected to major injuries, and therefore they are not likely to face a turndown in that case. The injured patients suffer the most when the layers find out that there will be a little financial gain after winning the case at hand.

Proposed NY Legislation

Both houses (Republican-controlled Senate and also the Democrat-controlled Assembly) in the state of New York passed a proposed bill that was supposed allow the making of significant changes in the way medical practitioners have been handled over the last few years (Med, 2016). The proposal was supposed to allow people to make reports even two years after a medical practice has been conducted. This was based on the cancer patients who underwent the wrong diagnosis and treatment but later on, realised that they needed to make a report to the relevant authorities. This law was backing up the fact that medical practitioners are not supposed to take part in any form of malpractice since anything they do will be reported and will end up being used against them in future.

Risk Management and Peer Review Programs Preventing Medical Malpractice Claims

There are risk management programs that have been put in place to make sure that people do not take part in any medical practice. The peer review programs have been established to train the practitioners on how to handle patients regardless the problems that they are facing. For instance, there is the Obama Care program that has been set aside to deal with patients that have been subjected to malpractice (Nordqvist, 2017). At the same, it holds all the training needs of the medical practitioners as they are supposed to be well conversant with the laws that guide medical malpractice.

There are also risk management programs that have been set by the states to be able to deal with the medical malpractices before they occur. The programs are mostly connected to the laws that are established by the relevant bodies (Nordqvist, 2017). The authorities have managed to handle all the issues revolving around medical malpractice and that that case, they have come up with laws that deter people from such activities to a great extent. This is a way of making sure that all the medical practitioners remain on the right track at all times.

References

Josefa, V. (2018). "NT Reaches Agreement on Lavern's Law Medical Malpractice Bill." New York Law Journal.

Med, C. J. (2016). "Rethinking Peer Review: Detecting and Addressing Medical Malpractice Claims Risk." Research Gate.

Nordqvist, C. (2017). "Medical Malpractice: What does it involve?" Medical News Today.