There's more at stake than just big paydays for lawyers and plaintiffs; the feeding frenzy could hobble health care.
There are a couple of things on which virtually all of us agree: First, we want high-quality, readily available medical care; second, we want medical professionals who cause harm to those in their care to be held to account for the damage they do.
That, however, is about as far as the consensus goes. Beyond these narrowly defined parameters, all is finger-pointing, table-pounding and, needless to say, litigating.
As Dr. David Gray, a local physician, pointed out in a Forum on the Dec. 27 Viewpoints page, the lawsuit explosion in the country generally and in Nueces County in particular has reached such proportions that it could pose a threat to the availability of health care.
Nueces County, he wrote, has achieved the dubious distinction of being the second most litigious county in the state. That only confirms what most of us have long since concluded: There is something like a feeding frenzy in progress here.
Channel-surf wherever you will; sooner or later (probably sooner) you'll encounter an attorney urging you to bring your problems to him or her. Some are shameless in their opportunism: Have you suffered from respiratory problems? Throat inflammation? Sinus woes? Come see me; let's find somebody to sue.
The medical profession, in fact, faces a problem that has taken on frightening proportions. As the Dallas Morning News recently reported, 51.7 percent of all Texas physicians had claims filed against them in 2000. As a result, some doctors find it virtually impossible to secure affordable malpractice insurance.
This is prompting many physicians to stop providing certain services - delivering babies, performing spinal surgeries - that increase the practitioner's vulnerability to lawsuits. Some doctors have simply left the profession altogether.
None of this is to say there aren't some bad doctors out there. Nor is it to suggest that those bad doctors should not be punished, financially, through professional sanctions, and even through the criminal justice system, where warranted.
At some point, though, we will face a choice: We can have quality health care, with safeguards for patients and care providers alike; or we can turn medicine into a kind of lottery.
Is it really that big a deal? You bet your life.
