Tort Reform and Medical Malpractice After COVID-19

Tort Reformers/Insurance Companies Could Care Less About Doctors and Medical Workers. Their Concern is for profits.

Tort reformers have long railed against medical malpractice cases as a threat to doctors. They have done this for decades despite the total absence of any evidence. Their complaints usually go something like this: medical malpractice claims drive up the costs of insurance for doctors, doctors will not be able to get insurance due to unaffordable premiums, doctors will stop practicing medicine to avoid lawsuits and I suppose the doctors will end up penniless on the streets.

Its all nonsense of course. The only thing about their protests that has any relevance whatsoever to the healthcare system is the mention of insurance. This is really the sole basis for their concerns. The true clients and beneficiaries of the Tort Reform myth is the insurance industry. The plain fact is that the high premiums for medical malpractice insurance have little if anything to do with medical malpractice claims. The high premiums have everything to do with insurance industry profiteering off of doctors, the medical profession, the healthcare system and patients.

The simple truth is Tort Reformers could care less about doctors, nurses, hospitals or any other medical care providers. COVID-19 has made this perfectly clear.

Tort Reform Driven Insurance Industry

The insurance industry, along with a bunch of “think” tanks working on its and its members behalf, drive the myths of Tort Reform. This includes the myths around frivolous medical malpractice cases which are virtually non-existent due to the extraordinary costs and difficulty of these cases along with the very low success rate. In fact, medical malpractice lawsuits overall have been declining for decades while insurance premiums continue to rise. The frivolous medical malpractice lawsuit is a phantom demon created by the insurance industry to protect its profits.

Insurance Industry Silent on Protecting Doctors, Nurses and Medical Workers During COVID-19

The cynicism of the insurance industry is remarkable. For decades, it has posed as the friend of doctors and the medical community at large. Yet, where are the voices from the insurance industry calling for the protection of doctors, nurses and other medical workers during COVID-19? Where are the insurance companies rallying against herd immunity? There is none to speak of. Instead they cozy up to a corportist fascist news outlet.

What you do find is numerous major insurance companies that continue to advertise on Fox News such as Allstate, Esurance, Geico, Progressive and Liberty Mutual. Why does this matter an inquiring mind might want to know? Fox News is the chief proponent via Dr. Atlas of herd immunity. Herd immunity is an insanely callous, irresponsible and murderous response to a COVID-19. It will lead to over a million deaths, maybe far more than one million.

Medical Workers Face Enormous COVID-19 Risks

COVID-19 has killed close to 2000 medical workers in the U.S. alone. In some states, medical workers account for up to 20% of all COVID-19 cases. It is unknown how many healthcare workers have passed the virus on to loved ones, family and friends, who then died from the disease. Chances are that number is much higher than even the 2000 medical workers deaths due to the way COVID-19 spreads. The toll on the healthcare professionals is staggering as it stands right now. And the insurance industry/tort reformers will gleefully profit as it gets far worse as those very profits finance the organizations such as Fox News that would make it worse.

Fox News and friends, including the insurance industry, are more than happy to profiteer even off of COVID-19. They do not blink an eye when thousands of medical workers have died as a result of absolute cruelty, indifference and incompetence in dealing with COVID-19. Rather than push for solutions that would protect medical workers, it appears the insurance industry is fully onboard with herd immunity. Perhaps it is more than sheer indifference. Perhaps instead it is the promise of millions more Americans suffering from pre-existing conditions whose coverage the insurance industry has sought to overturn since the Affordable Care Act was first passed. Instead of protecting medical workers (and patients) Fox and friends want to pour fuel on the fire with herd immunity. And you guessed it, fuel their profits.

Insurance Companies Please Never Speak of Concern for Doctors Again!

Tort Reformers/Insurance Companies do not care about doctors or any other medical workers. This is clear from their lack of response to the COVID-19 crisis and their enthusiastic embrace of those that would make it far worse. Thousands more medical workers will die as a result of COVID-19. Thousands upon thousands more of their loved ones will also die. Exponentially higher numbers will contract the virus. Many will suffer permanent harm. Most will suffer PTSD in varying degrees of severity due to the trauma they have endured as a result of the American response to COVID-19. Many may leave the profession completely. Who would blame them given the utter indifference that society has shown and the active harm that corporate tort reformers such as insurance companies continue to inflect through their push of herd immunity and every other kind of deception to get the wheels of commerce/profits rolling again? Its profits, not prophets and certainly not doctors that concern the insurance industry.

So next time someone tries to sell you on tort reform, the myth of frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits and their compassionate concern for doctors, you know what to tell them. There’s no need to print it here.