The Malpractice System Doesn't Deter Malpractice

Research indicates that the malpractice system in the United States doesn't do a lot to deter malpractice. There are several recent studies about malpractice that look at how many doctors have malpractice claims against them, and what happens to their careers after they have a problem.

Related HCT episodes:

Be sure to check out our podcast!

Other Healthcare Triage Links:

Credits:
John Green -- Executive Producer
Stan Muller -- Director, Producer
Aaron Carroll -- Writer
Mark Olsen – Art Director
Meredith Danko – Social Media

#healthcare #healthcaretriage #malpractice

[GregTom]

As a pharmacist, I have a couple ways to tell whether a doctor is good or under average. Patients talk about their doctor, I can see the prescriptions (and on occasion have to call back a doctor if something isn't safe), I check whether the required follow up labs are ordered, I see whether the doctors go to continuous training programs that I attend, and I know how often they see their vulnerable patients, and what infrastructure and procedures they have to guarantee that their patients can consult in a time efficient manner.

In my experience, the best care is provided by doctors that are not close to retirement, and work in a clinic with several other clinicians that is staffed with nurses and consultant medical professionals.
In fact, half of the advantage of having a doctor from a larger clinic is that you can see a different doctor by showing up to the unscheduled-checkup, in case your family doctor failed to address your problem effectively the first time.

[TinyMedicine]

Its difficult for a layperson to spot malpractice unless its very serious. On the other hand, being understaffed and having long shifts should also be as spoken about as malpractice.

[corwin]

As a US patient, I wouldn’t even know how to begin researching my doctor

[tamae.j]

The Hospital in my area made it close to impossible to file a complaint I literally ended up calling about 6 different numbers getting the run around for hours and was only given the rite number after threatening to get the police involved and just file for sexual harrasment it was ridiculous

[HorzaPanda]

On that last point, in the UK at least, there have been individual Doctors charged for incidents where the blame really should be put on understaffing and the managers/heads of departments who let safe staffing levels slip

[Fireclaws]

This is what countries with unified health systems deal with better. A national board means that to make a solo practice or work someone else, someone needs to check if they are licensed.

They should not be allowed to practice in the country at all if they are highly negligent in their duty of care.

Being struck off a license registry should have real consequences. A lawsuit can help a patient recuperate costs, but a board of peers need air deal with the fallout for the physician who failed.

[jackthemapper]

I was wondering: you always cite studies but dont link them. Could you include your sources in the video description like most science focused channels do? In this case i just wanted to look up the methods that were used. But i think in general it is a good practice to include the sources in the video description where anyone can check them.

[TakeWalker]

My question is, when you're choosing a new doctor, is there anywhere the average patient can go to do that research on previous malpractice suits?

[dentonyoder]

Just read your piece in the Indianapolis Business Journal. I had know idea you worked at IU! I'm a sophomore in SPEA. I've been subscribed for over two years now! Good work with the channel

[WAT-RecordsProducing-zzwx]

Love the cover screen "Where do the malpracticing doctors go", ....😂to the "other" hospital 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[MrThatGuyYouForgot]

The system doesn't really do much to correct malpractice among physicians. I was treated at a hospital by a psychiatrist who had his license suspended for giving a child an overdose of medication because he was on cocaine. He was the worst doctor of any kind I ever had. He was medical director of the hospital. They managed to do a lot of damage to me and then stole my stuff. It took me a while to recover from what happened to me. It was psychiatric hospital which later mysteriously closed down probably to avoid charges of malpractice and medicare fraud. All the staff including him moved to a newly opened psychiatric hospital. This was not the first time they did that. If doctors do messed up things in a smaller town there's often so few options that they'll still get business if they're awful. If doctor behaves like that they should just have their license taken away but that rarely happens. By the way, that doctor is still practicing.

[DutchLabrat]

Healthcare still understands little about quality control and doesn't seem to want to learn from industrial practices.

Don't Punish! is a well known rule. Penalising errors only creates a culture of secrecy and hiding or if that fails pointing and blaming. This distracts from any serious investigation into the real causes let alone structural improvements. So nothing changes.

The simple fact is that humans are gonna human (Doctors are still somewhat human...) and humans make mistakes. Only a commitment to changing procedures, tools, and training to prevent mistakes will really improve anything.

[jeremyelser]

For the stats that show a small number of patients account for most claims, is that referring to claim count or claim dollar value?

[productivediscord]

I work as a CNA at a hospital so I only hear this through the grapevine but my hospital's focus on reducing malpractice claims is better bedside interaction and transparency(as I work nights and rarely see the doctors, it's very likely I don't see the medical safeguards). The theory being even when mistakes happen, people are less willing to sue open and likable doctors. The hospital does not want a Dr. House situation.

[DogsBAwesome]

I wonder how many claims are against surgeons who take on jobs that have a minamal chance of success. An elderly gentleman I knew was put forward for some very invasive heart surgery, apparently, the doctor was relieved when he decided not to have the operation after all.

[ArunNalluri]

In India, there was a study which claimed that Drs (Medical Boards) always tend to protect fellow Drs during an investigation.

[Chamelionroses]

Do ever plan to collaborate with other youtubers into the medical profession...doctors and nurses? How about zdoggmd ?

[Caesark]

Hey, could you guys do another healthcare system video, but this time do a country in a region that you haven’t done before like Latin America, the Middle East or Africa

[paineoftheworld]

Is there a difference between errors and malpractice? If so, does this data differentiate?

[mattbeckwith]

The fact that A small percentage of doctors accounts for a large percentage of claims does not mean anything nefarious. This is a very misleading statistic that relies on the listener jumping to the incorrect conclusion that these two percentages represent similarly sized populations. Let’s say 5% of doctors account for all the malpractice claims. And Of those 2% account for 39% as you said. Well, so what? A small percentage of doctors accounting for the majority of the malpractice claims simply means that not many doctors commit malpractice!