New US Constitution (page 3)

teenyuck

Does anyone know what percentage of medical bills in the USA goes to cover litigation?

Alot....I don't have the figures, however, it is obscene. The average malpractice premium for an OB/GYN is over $100,000 per year. Those docs have to deliver lots of babies and do lots of pap smears to make a profit and a decent living. US News & World Report had a great article a few weeks back about it. It is on the web, however, you have to pay....I get the print version and threw it out this weekend...

Serious Question; Is alternative childbirth (i.e. patient controlled (unless an emergency) birth plan, with free choice of standing, sqautting, birth pools, whatever, choice of pain relief or no relief, baby stays with mum after a quick check, a weigh and a clean) popular in the USA?

These choices are available...as long as your doctor has high liability insurance and you are low risk.

OB/GYNs are leaving the field in droves. They are being sued for everything wrong with the kid. If the child is not yanked out quick enough, they sue for the child having Cerebral Palsy. It could be from anything, however, the doctors are being blamed for letting the women remain in labor too long. So, the docs induce labor and do everything they can to get the baby out quickly.

Attorneys advertise on TV: IF your child has cerebral palsy, call us. We can help you recover costs....

All this does is increase overall medical costs.

Is this just TV distortion, or are doctors still treating pregnancy like a disease in the US?

Due to litigation, that is how it is treated. OB/GYNs have the highest insurance premiums; right below neuro-surgeons! That is crazy.

They are afraid to treat pregnancy any other way. Attorneys are knocking on clients doors the moment the baby is born, asking if the baby is OK and perhaps they can sue.

Lawsuits are out of control in the USA. This is affecting our healthcare.

Mary

I like Articles IV, VI and X the best................

As for the lawsuits and malpractice insurance in the States, well there needs to be some sort of balance. Here in Canada, we have the opposite problem. Up here, a doctor and practically kill you either through sheer neglect, laziness or just plain incompetence, and there's virtually nothing you can do about it. It is extremely difficult to sue a doctor, especially in Ontario even when there is no doubt that they were neglegent.

I'm not talking about misdiagnosing a cold, I'm talking about misdiagnosing cancers, leaving instruments in someone during an operation and that person develops that flesh-eating disease, that kind of stuff. The doctors up here all pay a small percentage for malpractice insurance compared to the States so when you go to sue them, they don't have to pay a dime for legal services, it's all covered. Therefore, their lawyers will vigorously defend the doctor, even when the moron clearly should not be practicing medicine. And unless you've got ALOT of money for YOUR legal costs, you're SOL.

And even if you're lucky enough to win in court, the amount that you are rewarded is such a piddly-ass amount, that it just barely covers your legal costs.

outnfree

ARTICLE X:

This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from. We welcome you here. English is our language and like the one you left behind, we also have a culture. Learn it or go back to the country and the living conditions you were fleeing.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Constitution does not specify a specific official language, so this is one change that I'd like to see. I think learning the language of the country one has chosen to reside in aides in adaptation, adjustment to culture shock, and is a unifying force. It sounds simplistic, but "when in Rome...". When traveling, I always try to communicate in the host language, how much more so should an immigrant take the time to learn the language of his adoptive country. The mother tongue can still be spoken at home, so as not to loose something of admitted value.

Abaddon,

The birthing pool sounds so nice!

When I had my eldest in 1984, I delivered her in a birthing room, with a bed/seat that adjusted in very many ways to make me more comfortable. However, I was angry that I was not allowed more freedom to be up and about or to visit a bathroom once the amniotic sac had broken. I had a natural (no anesthetic) delivery and my husband was present. She was outfitted with a knitted cap, wrapped in a blanket and put on my chest under a warming lamp. They took her away to put the silver nitrate in her eyes and clean her up a bit better, and then gave her back to me.

Two years later, there were some signs that #2 daughter was in distress, so I was taken from the birthing room to a delivery room and was put in the damned stirrups! I wasn't there long, though, because she had been induced. She was a bit blue, but pinked up nicely after a few minutes. This delivery was much more stressful than the first because of the pitocin drip, but I still managed without forceps or anesthetics! ;)

Two years later, I delivered my son in a Canadian hospital where I again had a birthing room. I was allowed to get up and walk around (although the bed wasn't quite the wonder that the first US bed had been!), visit the bathroom any time I wanted despite having had the amniotic sac purposely ruptured to speed things along. Nurse ran to get the doctor just in time for him to catch our boy who was also put on my chest while my husband cut the umbilical cord.

So it varies, but if you want the experience you described, you'd have to get a nurse-midwife and plan the birth at home for the most part.

outnfree

freedom96

I love it! Says it like it should be without pulling punches.

WildHorses

ARTICLE X:
This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from. We welcome you here. English is our language and like the one you left behind, we also have a culture. Learn it or go back to the country and the living conditions you were fleeing.

I'm glad this is not true. I wouldn't have learned to speak Spanish other wise.

Bendrr

Somehow I knew healthcare would dominate this thread.

Healthcare costs are way too high. Why? Because insurance companies are involved. You want incompetence? Quit picking on doctors and start looking at the idiots who pay them.

Insurance companies have way too much power in this country over EVERYTHING. Insurance companies have acquired the power to regulate our lives, almost every aspect. They tell us which doctors we can go to, and depending on the plan the doctor may not even want to see us because he/she doesn't want to deal with our insurance company. They tell the doctor how much they'll pay for a procedure, they even sometimes tell the doctor how to treat us and what he/she can or can't prescribe.

Yes I know that the way insurance companies act is only a reaction to how litigious people are. People sue for anything. We as a society need to just quit looking for free rides and ways to get rich without hard work.

Mike.

NeonMadman

Insurance companies have way too much power in this country over EVERYTHING. Insurance companies have acquired the power to regulate our lives, almost every aspect.

So instead we should give all that power to the government? No, thank you. History has shown what happens - over and over again - when governmental power gets out of hand.

Yes I know that the way insurance companies act is only a reaction to how litigious people are. People sue for anything. We as a society need to just quit looking for free rides and ways to get rich without hard work.

Bingo! The problem is the excessive litigation that medical practice tends to attract. If people were prevented from suing for ridiculous reasons, health care would be both cheaper and even more available than it is now.

Abaddon

teenyuck; Thanks for the info. I was thinking of it as Madonna was quoted some time ago about not wanting to give birth in England because of antiquated practices; I suppose it's definitions. Giving birth by squatting is about the most antiquated practise there is! To us Brits, the American process of childbirth as seen in the media seems for the convenience of medical professionals rather than the good of mother and child. Example; episimotomies (sp?). Tears heal quicker and better. Cuts are easier to sew. So the tendancy (in England too) is to cut rather than let the perinium tear, as then you can stich it up easier.

outnfree; The birthing pool is great, I'd recommend it as much as someone with out a vagina can recommend a way of giving birth.

heathen

It really does sicken me when I think that in this time of recession the Bush administeration is concerned with tax cuts for the wealthy .When I think of all the tax payer money that goes to aid foriegn nations I could easily say something should be done by the US government as far as health care . I am against the income tax all together .A comedian once said that the problem with the US government is that the people in charge want to be in charge of other countries. Made sense to me .

Bendrr

It really does sicken me when I think that in this time of recession the Bush administeration is concerned with tax cuts for the wealthy

<groan!>

<sigh!>

The "wealthy" ARE the taxpayers!!!!!! How can you cut taxes for the poor when they don't pay taxes in the first place? The wealthy are paying their fair share and then some! It's the "then some" part that Bush is trying to cut!

Mike.

New US Constitution

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