How can Obama call into question medical ethics adherence without mentioning legal ethics?

[byron92]

Aren't the lawyers the driving force behind the health care fiasco? Aren't the lawyers writing all the fine print that insurance companies use to void and avoid payment of claims. And aren't the lawyers the biggest promoters of malpractice lawsuits. And, I think Obama is a lawyer, isn't he? Would you agree that his attack was not well thought out?

[devon]

Actually, lawyers are NOT the driving force behind the medical fiasco. That's what Republicans want you to think. The fact is, medical equipment companies, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and doctors themselves are responsible for the high costs of settlements. They want you to believe that lawyers greed runs it up. The fact is, settlements for pain and suffering are typically computed as a factor of the medical bills. For example, I had 12 staples put into me when I had surgery. Those staples cost 1,000.00 each. If that was the only medical bill I had for an injury, those cost of those staples would result in about 60K in settlement value. The higher the medical costs, the higher the settlement. It's pretty amazing to me that people do not realize that by capping awards, the CONSUMER gets screwed. Not the lawyers, and certainly not the doctors. When you lose an arm, or a kid, or anything to an injury or malpractice, come and talk to me about a lower award for you because lawyers are greedy. I guarantee you there will be a different song being sung.

When the medical end of this fiasco realizes they are the problem and lower the ridiculous costs associated with treatment, medication and other stuff, the costs will come down. When the costs come down, so will the awards. Doctors and Pharmas want to get all their money, and lower the awards to the victims of accidents, med mal, or whatever. There is ALWAYS another side of the story. But nobody wants to realize this side.

[montgomery69]

There are many more politicians who are lawyers than there are politicians who are doctors. For some very strange reason, the legal profession (like politicians) have successfully marketed themselves as protector of people, when in fact it is the lawyers who, as you say, write the "fine print" that ends up screwing people, and who stir things up to make huge legal fees. And let's not forget that lawyers are behind legislation and all its fine print, pork, taxes and empire building. Citizens are merely pawns in the game of high stakes politics.