Health Courts
During the recent health care showdown, President Obama floated the concept of mandating that all claims against health care providers be adjudicated by "health courts". This proposal, viewed by most as an attempt to gain the support of the insurance and health care industries, was not included in the final health care bill. Most describe a health court as looking somewhat like the workers compensation system. The idea is that the health courts would apply prescribed standards of care to every case and assign a value for a patient's damages according to a schedule. Those in favor of the health courts feel that it will result in consistent results, reduce frivolous lawsuits, and reduce health care costs. Those opposing the health courts point out that, despite insurance industry claims, there are very few frivolous lawsuits against health care providers and that creating a compendium of all the possible standards of care is impractical. In most states the statistics reveal a reduction in claims against health care providers and that the average jury award has remained about the same. This has lead some to question whether forcing injured patients to forgo their right to trial by jury is warranted, or whether it's simply a way for insurance companies to increase profits at the expense of injured patients.
Erik Peterson
