Law-Forums.org

[iomar]

Growing up, suing a doctor was never heard of and it was like a taboo to do so! Now I read it all the time in newspapers and listening about it on the radio!

Is that the reason why many promising students don't want to go into medicine to become a physician because of frivolous lawsuits and costly malpractice insurance?

[tanishia]

In the medical field, the results of negligence can be catastrophic. If someone is killed or permanently disabled as a result of negligence, then the person who was negligent should pay damages. Just think of the lost earnings that can result from death or permanent disability. People of all professions should be accountable for their actions.

[bergh39]

Because America went sue happy. I prefer New Zealand's legal system. There is no / barely any suing for anything. If someone trashes your car, you can't sue him, he simply gets punished. The court may force him to pay the damages and or do community service and or go to jail. That said most western countries have far fewer cases of suing. Canada is getting worse these days.

There should be a law that says if you sue someone and in the process it's decided your case is unfounded and you're just grubbing money you go to jail for a year. That would slow down the fakers.

Vito: I think the issue is that a bad doctor should be punished, whereas instead what happens now is, the patient is rewarded for the doctor messing up and little if no punishment is meted out to the doctor as the insurance company pays. This creates more incentive to sue whereas what’s needed, is more incentive to not butcher people. It’s almost like people feel lucky to have something minor go wrong and exploit it for money.

[werner72]

Because it is too easy to sue someone.

If courts would start assessing a "fine" equal to the amount sought for every frivolous lawsuit brought (that is, you sue for $100million in a frivolous lawsuit and it is thrown out, you have to pay out $100million to the person you tried to sue).

[ailwyn]

Some of the times doctor's really screw up and other times lawsuits against doctors are frivolous. Unfortunately it's mostly the latter. There are many variables involved with medical malpractice.

[ayize]

They get sued because a sub portion of the population has found it is a good way to get a good deal of money and they don't care who it hurts. If you could physically see the people doing the suits you would quickly understand.