Whether for a medical emergency, testing and diagnosis or a periodic examination, whether the outcome provides solace or concern, most physicians offer competence, comfort and some feeling of hope that eventually all will be all right again.
They hide from us the challenges and concerns they face operating their essentially small businesses - the billing hassles, the cash flow troubles, the pitches from the pharmaceutical and medical supply vendors, and the record-keeping - so they can concentrate on patient needs.
This is why they organize into professional associations, some concentrating on medical specialties and others primarily to represent them on business matters that come before state and national law and policymaking bodies.
The doctor's principal lobbying organization, the American Medical Association, is urging Congress to approve legislation that would limit medical malpractice damage awards. It argues that physicians are victims of soaring malpractice insurance rate increases caused by a legal system skewed by greedy trial lawyers and plaintiffs seeking "jackpot justice," routinely pocketing million-dollar-plus awards.
By doing so, the association has committed a major misdiagnosis of the medical malpractice insurance increase that's pinching many of its member doctors.
Although medical malpractice insurance rates have jumped significantly in the last two years, affecting some specialists who feel they can no longer practice, analysis of federal data and insurance industry testimony shows conclusively that greedy lawyers and plaintiffs aren't to blame.
Instead, the failure of state governing boards to discipline a small minority of physicians responsible for the highest percentages of successful malpractice claims and investment losses of insurance carriers are behind this so-called crisis.
Even so, proposed malpractice tort reform that would limit damage awards to $250,000 is the hottest political issue currently aimed at fixing the nation's broken medical system, far ahead of prescription drug coverage for seniors or the Patients' Bill of Rights. President Bush weighed in on the subject in his State of the Union address ,saying, "No one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit."
Consider these findings, readily available through basic Internet research, that indicate villains other than lawyer and lawsuits:
The International Risk Management Institute and J. Robert Hunter, noted actuary and insurance director for the Consumer Federation of America, agree on what's causing malpractice premium rate increases. In separate studies, they noted that premiums do not correlate with damage awards paid; instead, they remain flat when investment returns to insurance carriers are high and climb when the economy falters.
Finally, any limit on malpractice awards will not decrease medical malpractice premium rates, according to testimony of insurance executives before Congress and several state legislatures.
That means physicians will get no relief; injured patients will receive substantially lower damage awards; and poorly practicing physicians and private insurers will benefit greatly.
It is a prescription that won't provide the cure that's needed.
Write Eric Zoeckler at The Herald, P.O. Box 930, Everett, WA 98206 or e-mail mrscribe@aol.com.