me and blogging

When I first started my blog, I had a vision of what I would do here. I would rant sometimes, I would use it as a diary at other times, and fill-in the blanks with observations and general wackiness. My diagnosis of renal failure October 6 changed all of that. I now use it mostly as a way to let friends and family know what is going on in my life with regards to the renal failure. Although I proof the blog before posting, I dont spell check (which may be obvious) and I dont edit that much as I feel it captures accurately who I am and what I am going through.

Today, I want to take a small step away from the norm and go on a rant (although it is related to my situation). I just want to share my feelings about tort reform. Several people say that the reason medical malpractice insurance is so high is because of the high number of lawsuits. I disagree with that strongly and will outline what I believe is the true reasons for high insurance costs for doctors.
1) lack of competition. In this state, there is really only ONE medical malpractice insurance company which is ran by the medical trade association. Basic business classes teach you that if you have a monopoly, you can charge whatever you want.
2) failure to police themselves. For years, doctors have fought legislation to get rid of the incompetent quacks by saying that they need to police themselves. As a result, few doctors have been punished for being idiots and as a result all doctors have to pay the inflated costs to cover these quacks. The quacks keep practicing and keep on being incompetent and the result is higher costs to insure the good doctors. Florida just passed an intiative that provides for 3 strikes and your out for doctors. I think this will go a long way in getting rid of doctors that shouldnt be practicing anyway.
Those that blame the lawyers say that if you cap the rewards to $250,000 that are awarded when doctors screw up and are sued, that you will reduce the number of suits and the prices for medical malpractice insurance will drop. Of course this will protect the incompetent doctors and allow them to keep practicing and keep making mistakes (further driving up the costs). Here is what else really happens when you cap damages: The person injured by the doctor loses hugely. Lawyers take medical malpractice cases on a contingency fee basis. They dont take cases unless they think they can win and then they charge from 40-50% for their services (which usually includes the costs of experts from both sides, and court costs). The $250,000 cap doesnt include "actual damages" which is the costs for hospital stays and the like (which has to be repayed to the insurance company). Suppose you are 30 years old and a doctor does something stupid and you cant work for the rest of your life. You sue and get the $250,000 awarded to you by a jury. Your lawyer gets half leaving you with $125,000. Uncle Sam gets at least $45,000 leaving you with $80,000. Of that $80,000 you will have to pay for ongoing medical bills for the rest of your life, as well as feed, clothe and shelter yourself. Meanwhile, the doctor is free to go on injuring other people. Although this isnt the case with me, I still think that it is not right for people to be considering changing the laws of this country in such a stupid way.


In other news, I made it official last week and retained the services of an attorney to go after the doctor that didnt follow appropriate medical protocol and got me into this condition. I am trying to get in to see another Nephrologist but his dialysis clinic is full so I have to wait for them to get an oppening. I am also trying to get outpatient surgery scheduled soon so I can change to dialysis that I do at home while I sleep (they have to put something into your abdominal cavity to do this). I am also trying to get my evaluation scheduled so I can get placed on the transplant list (they have to do blood tests to determine your perfect match, map out your arteries and veins, and then I have to meet with a shrink to see if I am mentally stable). So far I have 8 people that wish to be tested to see if they are match. Words cant describe the gratitude I have towards these people. I would like to think that I would do the same thing if the roles were reversed but I cant guarantee what I would do.