Originally Posted by CGSTL

Well how is it that these two demons never get mainstream press?

1) Insurance profits are soaring while skilled doctors are quitting due to decreasing compensation?

2) Trial Lawyers convince profoundly dumb juries to award jackpot settlements whenever physicians make just one mistake. The result: No Internal or ER doc will give you the time of day until you've have thousands of dollars of diagnostic tests to give then the answer as to what's really wrong with you.

Every day in the ER:
1) Doc, I bumped my head. --> Head Cat Scan ordered ($500)
2) Doc, I feel dizzy. --> Brain MRI ordered ($900)
3) Doc, I have a pain in my stomach. --> Abdomen/Pelvis Cat Scan ($700)

What used to happen before the jackpot trial lawyers:
1) Bumped head? Take this Tylenol and I'll observe you for a few hours ($45 office visit)
2) Dizzy? You looked dehydrated so I have you an IV and observed your progress ($250)
3) Stomach pain? I observed you for two hours and it want away. You had gas. ($45)

You wouldn't believe how many ER CT scans and MRI's come up NORMAL, NORMAL, NORMAL because ER docs are now forced into such an anti-suit defensive position. They're no longer allowed to routinely make a diagnosis because a suing lawyer will ask him on the stand: Why didn't you send your patient to get a $1000 MRI when it was just down the hall??? One mistake every 10,000 patients forces the ER doc to have all patients radiologically scanned for lawsuit protection.

I'm sure happy that our malpractice trial lawyers are richer than our doctors.
My qtr's up.