U.S. News and World Report writer Mary Brophy Marcus wrote an article a few years back about the critical shortages of physicians in the United States and the escalating cost of healthcare due to the malpractice crisis, which she titled “Healthcare’s ‘Perfect Storm.’” The description was, indeed, most appropriate, one that predicted an ominous future for the Americans. That bad omen came true. Today, there is a serious crisis in healthcare costs that is bankrupting Medicare and other private insurance companies and medical care providers in the United States, thanks to the mandated malpractice insurance for all physicians in America and the massive Medicare fraud.
The same crisis could wreak havoc on the healthcare system in the Philippines and cause people immeasurable pain and suffering if we, the people, allow our legislators to pass a law mandating that all physicians in the country buy malpractice insurance, as physicians in the United States are required to have. The Philippines is different and could do without malpractice insurance for its physicians, as it has for the past 156 years.
Since that US law was passed, malpractice lawsuits have skyrocketed, malpractice lawyers have mushroomed, and so have ambulance chasers and billboard advertisements encouraging patients to sue physicians, medical staff, clinics, and hospitals. Physicians were forced to practice defensive medicine, ordering more tests, X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, etc., in order “to be extra careful” and protect themselves. Healthcare costs escalated. America has grown into the litigious society it is today. Because of large settlement awards to plaintiffs, insurance companies had to jack up malpractice premiums to a prohibitive level. Unable to cope with the financial burden, many physicians had called it quits. The vicious cycle continued, leading to the present healthcare crisis in the United States.
In this revealing and alarming essay, the author related how a Las Vegas OB-GYN specialist with a thriving practice, seeing 40 patients a day and delivering 20 babies a week, had to fold his obstetrics practice after 12 years because of skyrocketing malpractice premiums in the United States. Although he had never been sued before, his malpractice rate jumped from $33,000 (more than 1.3 million pesos) to a more ridiculous $108,000 (almost 4.5 million pesos) a year! At an income tax (bracket) rate of almost 50%, this physician had to earn about $216,000 (almost 9 million pesos) a year just to be able to pay Uncle Sam the annual income tax and the malpractice premium of $108,000, with nothing left in his pocket for himself, his family, his office staff, and other overhead expenses.
The example the writer illustrated above is typical and widespread across North America, where there is currently a healthcare crisis, almost to a catastrophic proportion. The runaway malpractice insurance premium rate is forcing countless physicians, especially those specialists regularly performing high-risk procedures (heart surgeons, obstetricians, neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, emergency room physicians, etc.), to curtail their practices or retire prematurely, or change careers, to avoid debts or bankruptcy.
“People are dying,” stated Loren Johnson, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians’ California chapter. The reason is that states are running low on vital medical specialists and services as a result of this malpractice crisis.
The Washington County Hospital in Hagerstown, Maryland, like many other hospitals, had shut down its trauma center (emergency room) because of a lack of physicians and the very costly malpractice premiums. Many training hospitals are concerned that the high cost of malpractice premiums they have to buy for their residents might cause them to close their programs. And this will further reduce the number of practicing physicians in the country, making healthcare even less accessible for the people.
The potential profitability of filing a suit against a physician becomes a strong incentive for many patients to sue their physician at a drop of a hat. Indeed, the United States, most unfortunately, has become a very litigious society, for a fast buck! There are about 20,000 medical malpractice lawsuits filed each year, almost 55 cases a day.
In Las Vegas, for instance, like in many other metropolises, one sees a billboard almost every mile, advertising personal injury lawyers, with a “no-legal-fee-if-we-lose” incentive, practically enticing people to sue their physicians.
Can this crisis happen to the Philippines? Yes, since we, Filipinos, are very fond of copying everything and anything from the United States. As a matter of fact, it appears many of our legislators are still bent on importing the scary and potentially devastating idea of mandating malpractice insurance coverage for every physician in the Philippines.
Are these legislators misinformed, miserably blind, simply dumb, or cleverly planning to invest in or put up malpractice insurance companies in the Philippines? If the reason is none of the above, then why in heaven’s name would they, who have sworn to serve and protect the interest and welfare of the Filipinos, could even think of importing a harmful piece of legislation, like the mandatory malpractice insurance for physicians in our country, when the same experiment has despondently failed in the United States and has been causing a healthcare havoc, pain, and suffering among the Americans? Only our legislators, malpractice lawyers, ambulance chasers, and insurance companies will benefit from a national suicidal law such as this.
Why do we have to import mistakes, miseries, and heartaches from abroad when we have more than enough of our share right here in our country, courtesy of some of our elected government officials? For Filipinos in the United States who have seen “the future,” this proposed law is a sugar-coated poison that could kill our healthcare system and the medical profession, with the patients and their families as the ultimate victims.
* * *
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Asian Journal, its management, editorial board and staff.
Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, a Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus based in Northwest Indiana and Las Vegas, Nevada, is an international medical lecturer/author, Health Advocate, medical missionary, newspaper columnist, and Chairman of the Filipino United Network-USA, a 501(c)3 humanitarian foundation in the United States. He is a decorated recipient of the Indiana Sagamore of the Wabash Award in 1995, presented by then Indiana Governor, US senator, and later a presidential candidate, Evan Bayh. Other Sagamore past awardees include President Harry S. Truman, President George HW Bush, Astronaut Gus Grissom, pugilist Muhammad Ali, distinguished educators, renowned scientists, etc. (Wikipedia). Websites: FUN8888.com, Today.SPSAtoday.com, and philipSchua.com. On Amazon.com, search for “Where is My America?” Email: scalpelpen@gmail.com
