Should Doctors be held responsible for their mistakes?

Question

There is a movement in the U.S. to limit the financial responsibilty of a Docters mistakes. Shouldn't they be held accountable for every procedure that they do?

Answer 1

yes, especially the ones that cause loss of life or disability, there are too many doctors in this country that practice medicine without the proper training or go into fields that they are not properly trained, the ones who suffer are the patients who trusted their doctor

Answer 2

I would have to say yes.
My neighbor had abdominal pain and her GP recommended a full hysterectomy. She sought a second opinion and was given the same advice so she went through with it. The pain continued and then they did tests and discovered that she had Irritable Bowel Syndrome and could manage it with diet. Now she has no womb. This made another condition apparent. I'm not sure what the condition is called but her body retains too much iron in her blood. When she was having regular periods she never noticed anything strange but after the unnecessary op she became ill and had to loose a liter of blood. Now she has to go down and lose /give blood every 3 months for the rest of her life.
If it wasn't for the Doctors incompetency she would only have needed to change her diet and she would've been fine.
In the case of hospital doctors that work long hours then the hospital should be held accountable.
The problem is that many doctors think they are infallible and refuse to admit that they might have made a mistake.

Answer 3

Sure they should be held responsible for negligent actions. Who wouldn't agree. But the movement as you call it want to place limits on the millions and billions of dollars people are suing for because of a botched procedure. I completely agree. Should you get a couple of million dollars because they left a pair of scissors in side you after an operation - never mind the fact that nothing is wrong with you and all they need to do is go in and remove it? No. Absolutely not. Are you entitled to compensation. Absolutely. Just not a couple of mil.

Answer 4

It depends on how you define "accountable". Do you mean accountable in the sense that their insurance company (not them) makes the patient (who is probably fine now) a wealthy person? Should people be able to sell the deaths of their loved ones for wealth under the cover of "accountability"? Make no mistake these lawsuits are solely about money. The doctor has insurance that is paid for by his patients.

If you want Universal Healthcare or everyone to have insurance this problem must be taken care of. Europe does not have the malpracticwe suits we have, it's how they're able to afford to cover everyone.

Answer 5

i agree with roch cop. it's not that they shouldn't be held responsible, but financial awards in courtrooms have gone from obscene to stupid. all people should be accountable for their own behavior, including mistakes. that being said, mistakes happen. is it any different when a doctor makes a mistake or a driver slides on an icy road into another car? how about the smoker who is dying from lung cancer? whose mistake is that? In my opinion, there is a big difference between a mistake and gross negligence. if there is willful disregard causing injury, that person needs to be taken out of his or her profession, period, and that is where financial penalties should come into play. other mistakes need to be addressed, but not granted 6.3 billion dollars for excessive pain and suffering. let's start defining "serious" correctly when looking at mistakes.

Answer 6

Yes, they should be held accountable.
However, suing a doctor or a hospital for millions of dollars only helps one person: The one who was suing in the first place.
Even if the hospital or doctor wins the case, they still have to pay court costs. The court and lawyer costs are what drives the cost of health care up. That in turn hurts people who don't have medical coverage, or even those who have to rely on insurance.
It drives up the cost of their premiums.
It's a vicious cycle.

Answer 7

Some surgeries and procedures come with risks regardless of the health of the patient...Drs insurance is thru the roof....many do not practice or are hesitant due to that fact( ie: baby drs)....not EVERY thing that goes wrong(and sometimes things just go wrong) is the drs fault.

If they leave a scalpel or sponge inside you..okay....if they cut off the wrong leg...okay....but some of the lawsuits...IMO are people who are upset(and rightly so.....noone wants to see their loved one harmed are dead) that something went wrong and are looking for blame or a reason why it happened.....again sometimes things just go wrong!

So yes...if and ONLY if it is the Drs FAULT( gross neligence)...then yes he or she should be held accountable.

Answer 8

But at what point should it be stopped. The doctors will make mistakes in tiring to save lives. They are only human. Is it truly fair to wipe out the heath system just to feed the wild packs of lawyers.
Some times the doctors should be sued but many of the times bad thing just happen and it is not any ones fault.

Answer 9

Absolutely, they should be responsible, But the obscene amounts of money that are awarded in these malpractice lawsuits has to stop. There needs to be a cap. The result of the current situation is that most Americans can't afford medical insurance. I have a really great family physician who was trained in the Air Force. His greatest passion is family medecine but he cann't deliver babies anymore because he can afford the insurance. He told me that he delivered a set of twins and one didn't survive because sometimes one twin will rob all the nutrients from the other. he went to console the family and they didn't need consoling. they were already planning on how to spend the money they were going to win in the lawsuit.

Answer 10

In principle, I favor huge settlements for those whose lives are ruined by botched medicine. But I do realize that those billions in liability suit payouts come from somewhere. That money isn't whipped out of the sky. Inevitably, I think WE pay for it.

The longterm answer may be to do away with the "once you're in, you're in for good" old boy's club rules of the medical profession. It should be easier to take away a doctor's right to practice. Clear out the deadwood doctors, the shaking substance abusers who are really still only practicing in order to write themselves and paying addicts prescriptions.