CMS    Citizens                                  
                            for Medical Safety

WE RESPECTFULLY PRESENT THE FOLLOWING RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE HEALTH COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

 

1. As an addition to the amendment currently in your committee to address "doctor errors" we recommend the appointment of an independent TASK FORCE to seek and search for the reasons this occurrence is rampant in America today and to recommend solutions. These "errors" cause yearly 180,000 deaths, along with 2 million hospital induced infections causing another 100,000 deaths: the maimed and crippled, 1 million, and 15.3% of all seniors who enter a hospital die within 30 days. At the minimum, 30% of these "errors" are criminal in nature. One must ask, "what is the culture of ‘doctor errors’ that has created this unsafe climate in healthcare?"

2. Furthermore, this trickle down effect is a legal medical malpractice system that is archaic, cumbersome, expensive, and unjust. The truth of the matter is that of every 7 cases of medical malpractice only 1 ever makes its way into the legal system. Of these, only 3% ever go to trial. The other 97% are either dismissed, withdrawn, or "settled." Doctors pay exorbitant insurance premiums, which are driving them to early retirement, moving to cheaper insurance states, and into financial despair. This is due to insurance industry greed. In many states, doctors are on the streets picketing for medical malpractice insurance relief. We can do better.

3. Clearly, an issue for the TASK FORCE is how to overhaul our medical malpractice system.

4. Members of the INDEPENDENT TASK FORCE would consist of the victims, for we know how the system fails, and therefore recommend representatives from Citizens For Medical Safety. CMS represents all the victims in the Nation of "doctor errors." And 10-12 other TASK FORCE members would come from healthcare academia. No members of government of either party are to be included, thereby insuring independence of the task force. Possible names for consideration would include:

a. Donald Light, Ph.D. (international healthcare system planner, Princeton)

b. Quentin Young, M.D.

c. David Himmelstein, M.D. (Harvard)

d. Marcia AngeIl, M.D. (Harvard)

e. Arthur Levin, M.P.H.  (Institute of Medicine)

f. Thomas Metzloff (Professor of Law, Duke)
etc.