I intend to prove four things: (1) The nation is at the tipping point of socialized medicine. (2) Medical malpractice lawsuits tip the scale. (3) Lawyers have their fingers on the scale and are to blame. (4) The American people have the power to stop this. Whether I do or not depends on your comments.
The consequence of these four things is exemplified in 2017 with HR 1215, the Protecting Access to Care Act. This bill establishes a $250,000 federal cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. Many states already have this cap. Although it passed in the House, it died in the Senate.
If nothing else, the Protecting Access to Care Act recognized that frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits prevented access to care. It would reduce the number of frivolous lawsuits and this, according to the Congressional Budget Office, would reduce federal deficits by almost $50 billion over 10 years, through lower malpractice premiums and less use of health care services.
In terms of health care costs, that is a drop in the bucket.
In the final analysis, the American people are misrepresented by those they elect. The population of the United States is 342.8 million people. There are roughly 1 million doctors in the country, which represents 0.29 percent of the population. There are roughly 1.3 million lawyers in the country, which represents 0.38 percent of the population. The remaining 340.5 million people are neither doctors nor lawyers and they represent 99.33 percent of the population.
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The 342.8 million people elect members of Congress. There are 535 members of Congress; 435 are in the House of Representatives and 100 are in the Senate.
Anyone could run for office, including doctors, lawyers, and those who are neither. One hundred seventy-nine members of Congress are lawyers; 20 are doctors and 336 are neither.
This breaks down as follows: The House of Representatives includes 148 lawyers, 16 doctors, and 207 others; the Senate includes 47 lawyers, 4 doctors, and 49 others. This is how the American people are represented in Congress. Not only do lawyers represent only 0.38 percent of the U.S. population but the number of lawyers who were medical malpractice attorneys before being elected to Congress is even lower. That number is unknown; however, it is known that there are 135,000 personal injury attorneys in the United States, which is 10 percent of all attorneys. Therefore, medical malpractice attorneys are 0.038 percent of the U.S. population. This corresponds to 18 lawyers in Congress, which is 3.4 percent of the entire Congress. By contrast, doctors are 3.7 percent of Congress. What is also known is Dick Durbin, the Senate Democratic whip and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a former medical malpractice attorney.
Lawyers have tremendous political influence in the United States, but one, in particular, who was a former medical malpractice attorney, i.e., Dick Durbin, calls the shots. Senator Durbin represents Illinois. His legislative history of health policy is perfectly consistent with the interest of trial lawyers in the state. He firmly opposed tort reforms and blocked caps on medical malpractice lawsuits. He is characterized as a core defender of the plaintiff’s bar. He is a fitting symbol for why we need to act and to act now.
Furthermore, Illinois is the home of the present medical malpractice crisis, which started in 1960. Of the 179 lawyers in Congress, 5 are from Illinois, which is 26 percent of Illinois’ entire congressional delegation.
Of the 20 physicians in Congress, the number who were former defendants in medical malpractice lawsuits is also unknown. Sen. Rand Paul, for one, has defended malpractice suits.
Doctors represent 3.7 percent of Congress, which is roughly the same proportion as members who were former medical malpractice attorneys. Yet, the total population of doctors in the nation is 800 percent greater and yet they are unable or unwilling to respond.
Unless they do, these ideologues will continue to use the means of ambition, power, and greed to justify the end. When the health care system collapses, they intend to replace it with socialized medicine. Just look to Canada or any European country to see where they are leading the United States.
Howard Smith is an obstetrics-gynecology physician.
