Myths of Tort Reform in the Health Care Industry Dispelled

While the insurance industry succeeded in convincing legislatures on over half the states that “tort reform” would improve overall health care to the individual care recipients, the notion that doctors would gravitate to practicing “defensive medicine”,  prescribing unneeded tests, procedures, and medications to avoid being sued, has been dispelled by a recent major study by the New England Journal of Medicine. They find that tort reform measures specifically designed to insulate emergency room doctors from lawsuits did nothing to reduce the number of expensive tests and procedures those ER doctors prescribed.  They also find no measure of reduction in “frivolous” law suits or reduction in doctors leaving the profession. Read more on this study as reported by Steven Cohen at Forbes.Com.