Series 2558: Constituent Correspondence, 2000-2003
38856
From: <BobCTibbs@aol.com>
To: Governor Musgrove
Created: 4/23/2001 10:38 AM
Subject: Mississippi Health Care
Message:
Dear Governor Musgrave,
It was with pleasure that I read your article in Sunday's Clarion
Ledger concerning health care in Mississippi. As a Pediatrician, I applaud
the efforts of your administration to improve the health of our citizens.
However, there is one area of importance to health care in Mississippi which
I have never heard you or any other Mississippi politician address: tort
reform.
The malpractice situation in this state is frightening. Health care
providers can and are sued daily for things which are not their fault. As an
example, in my county there are approximately 25 full-time physicians. Of
this number, at least ten currently have a law suit against them or have had
to settle out of court within the past two years. One of these people is
dead, but hte plaintiff's attorney is pursuing the case against his estate
anyway. In addition, our hospital, the only on in the county, at last count
had twenty suits against it. There may well be more of each; these are only
the ones of which I am personally aware. It is difficult to provide quality
health care while looking over one's shoulder to see what the
ambulance-chasers are doing. I recall an incident two or three years ago
when I had to provide emergency care to a seven year old child in our ICU
while his attorney was at the bedside! I would not have imagined such a
situation possible while in Medical School.
Millions of dollars are spent in this state annually on "defensive
medicine", the ordering of tests or procedures, or the administration of
medication for the sole purpose of "protecting" a doctor in the event of a
lawsuit. I remind you that these are dollars being diverted from our finite
supply of health care funds in Mississippi. As an attorney, you know better
than most that under our current system, there is little incentive for a
personal-injury lawyer not to file a suit. Given the nature of our tort
system, he has a good chance of obtaining a settlement. In spite of the
Trial Lawyers Association's protests about the costs of losing such a suit,
all it takes is an occasional big win to make up for a number of losses.
Were this not the case, we would not be seeing such an epidemic of such cases
in Mississippi.
There are ways to protect health care providers from meritless lawsuits
while still protecting the right of people who have been truly harmed by
negligence to achieve justice. Other states have enacted such measures. The
only reason for not doing so in Mississippi is to protect the earning
potential of trail lawyers. I ask that you consider this in the future.
Sincerely,
Bob Tibbs, M.D.
- Attachment Filename: C:\archives\governor\mail\Governor Musgrove\_attach\Mississippi Health Care\Part.001
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Attachments
mississippi_health_care/part.001
mississippi_health_care/mime.822