Why health courts could pick up steam

A new year, a fresh start. Perhaps 2008 will be the year for real progress in resolving the malpractice crisis. The public is slowly getting the message that stratospheric malpractice premiums ultimately harm them too, as good doctors flee certain states and drop important procedures. One alternative, health courts, makes a lot of sense, but its forward momentum rivals that of Sisyphus. With health courts, compensation judgments would be made outside the regular tort system. Specially trained judges would make decisions on an avoidability standard. Injuries would be compensated if they could have been avoided with best practice care. Negligence, by contrast, focuses on whether care fell below customary practice. continues…

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