On Defensive Medical Practice: Patients' Compensation System (PCS)- a proposed bill to replace medical malpractice litigation system

Dear Dr. Uko-Abasi, It goes without saying that physicians are the lifeblood of our business. Every day we talk to you on the phone about your work, and we understand the pressures you face and frustrations you experience. We wouldn't be good at what we do if we didn't care deeply about matters that affect your professional lives. We understand the pressure you feel each work day as you balance your patients' needs with the constant threat of litigation. After listening to so many of you describe your dissatisfaction with medical malpractice over the years, we realize that the system is broken – it doesn't work for doctors or patients. That is why we're endorsing a new and exciting proposal from our parent company, Jackson Healthcare. In a continuation of their efforts to expose the truth about defensive medicine and advocate for change, Jackson Healthcare is announcing the formation of a new nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the creation of a Patients' Compensation System (PCS): a no-fault, state-driven system modeled after the workers' compensation system. This system would revolutionize malpractice litigation. It would free physicians from the pressure of being personally financially liable for medical errors. Please find out about a proposed PCS bill in a letter from Rick Jackson, the Chairman and CEO of Jackson Healthcare, our parent company. We are excited to share this proposal with you, and we hope you will choose to get involved and share this information with your colleagues. Click here to read the letter. Warm regards, R. Shane Jackson President LocumTenens.com

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Defensive medicine practices could signal a new ‘norm’ in the climate of fear

Defensive medicine practices could signal a new ‘norm’ in the climate of fear

A Case for Universal Health Insurance in the U.S

In 2000, the World Health Organization health systems rankings placed our health system at the 37th position among national health care delivery systems. The world's health authority used five performance indicators in doing the assessment: overall level of population health; health inequalities (or disparities) within the population; overall level of health system responsiveness (a combination of patient satisfaction and how well the system acts); distribution of responsiveness within the population (how well people of varying economic status find that they are served by the health system); and the distribution of the health system's financial burden within the population (who pays the costs)(1).

Currently, it is estimated that 45 million Americans lack health care insurance, hence unable to access care when they need it.This has contributed to the low ranking. While the U.K spending  just 6% of her GDP on health, is at the 18th position, the U.S is spending 16% to achieve this rating. There should be no reason why the superpower nation should leave 45 million of its population without health care insurance! It could be likened to a whole country having no access to health care!

While President Obama's health care reforms which has attracted the ire of the affluent is a step in the right direction, it is my sincere opinion that the superpower owes its citizens universal access to health care.

Reference
 1. World Health Organization Assesses the World's Health Systems. http://www.who.int/whr/2000/media_center/press_release/en/