Tort Reform Before Health Care Reform

While listening to the President promote his health care reform plan there was noticeably no mention of tort reform. This is a key factor in the health care reform equation. Has this devil been left out of the details? There is absolutely no way that viable health care reform can be enacted before there is a tort reform initiative.

Obama did mention that unnecessary tests and procedures must end. In a perfect world that would be nice but doctors must currently practice defensive medicine. There are medical tests and procedures that may be medically unnecessary but are a legal necessity if a doctor is to defend him or herself in a court of law over what has become a country of unbrideled frivolous malpractice lawsuits. This is not to say that there are no legitimate cases of malpractice but the cost of insuring doctors is exorbitant. Physicians must calculate this expense into their overhead before prescribing their first aspirin.

With the number of attorneys that serve in Congress, including the White House, it is safe to say that tort reform will never make it to the floor. There are a lot of lawyers’ backs that need to be scratched in this country and it would be a clear cut case of the legal community consuming itself.

With that in mind maybe the voters should give some thought to electing Congressional politicians that would be in favor of socializing the legal system.