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Show The Salt Lake Tribune OPINION A27 Friday, November 28, 2003 Just say no to forced arbitration of medical malpractice claims In the past few days, manyif not most of The Tribune's readers have received a “Dear Pa- tient” letter from Intermountain Health Care informing them that they will no longer receive services from IHC unless they agree in advance to give uptheir right to a jury trial of any potential medical malpractice claim they might havein future. Friends and colleagues have asked me howthis requirement can be legal. They are alarmed. They knowthat more than half of the hospital beds in Utah belong to IHC, and a similar proportion of doctors and clinics also are who had harmed patients repeatedly. Doctors and hospitals point to large malpractice verdicts in other states and say that you, the Utah citizen on the Utah jury, are “irresponsible” and “runaway” when you makea decision after hearingall the evidence. Doctors and hospitals will never acknowledge that the vast majority of malpractice claims CLARK NEWHALL in Utah (and elsewhere)are settled before trial. Both sides know that a mistake was made. Both . powerful medical lobby pan- sides also know the doctor wins icked poorly informed citizens all over the nation last year with at trial nine times out of 10. Doctors and hospitals will never ac- doctors threatening to go out of The facts showed just the op- knowledge that when a jury awards a large verdict in Utah (as it did a year or so ago against IHC),it is either because the cost mind). posite: Doctors were not going of caring for the injured patient I have to tell my friends that forced medical arbitration is legal in Utah courtesy of a very short-sighted legislative _re- out of business. The sudden rise of medical malpractice premiums was because of several years of insurance industry is huge or the doctor or hospital tried to cover up the mistake. sponse to the medical industry’s vociferous and vocal attack on the courts. The rich and price wars, and someof the doc- THCaffiliates. They know that in many Utah communities, their only choice is an IHC facility (St. George and Logan come to business because of the “malpracticecrisis.” As a physician,I believe that tors wholed the charge for “tort reform” nationwide were those I have to tell myfriends thatforced medical arbitration is legal in Utah courtesy ofa very short-sighted legislative response to the medical industry's vociferous and vocal attack on the courts. lawyer, I believe that forced medical arbitration harmscitizens and is contrary to law and arbitration. fundamental principles of fairness. As a patient, I am incensed that Iam forced to give up a basic right to receive medical treatment. That said, we “dear patients” individual patient and that is whytheycan force arbitration. are now in a pickle ii we don’t read the arbitration agreement and demand that the doctor or the hospital explain it to you. Askthese questions: Can I appeal like to be bullied. There are three things we know. First, doctors and hospitals make mistakes (just like everybody else) and that is why they have insurance (just like everybodyelse). doctors and hospitals that force Second, doctors and hospitals patients to choose between arbitration or treatment are wrong, unethical and uncaring. As a don’t like to admit their mistakes (just like everybody else) Third, doctors and hospitals have much more powerthan any If you object to forced medical arbitration, like my alarmed friends, what can you do? I suggest that you carefully tions in the arbitration agreement and withdraw your consent within the 30 days allowed for that. Do this every time you are required to sign the agreement. Do it repeatedly. Pretty soon, the medical industry will . get the message: Clean up your >.™" act and don’t doit at our expense. Clark Newhall is a physician and an attorney in Salt Lake City. He serves as a medical expert for’ the Social Security Administra- | tion and as an independent ex-> aminer of persons with injuries. if I lose? What happensif I don’t He also represents plaintiffs in; want to sign this agreement? Whathappensif] sign it and then change my mind? Why should I some personal injury arenas, including medical malpractice. In;. , this latter capacity, he has pend- a ing litigation with IHCandother medical providers. He lives in. have to give up a constitutional right in order to get another basic right? How am I going to be and so they require confidential taken care of when (not if) the hospital or doctor makes a mistake and injures me? When you don’t get answers to these questions and others,I suggest you follow the instruc- Sandy. Random thoughts on D.C. sniper, politics and other worldly affairs 3 Random thoughts on the passing scene: Impractical men especially need to get married. The problem is that practical women may have better sense than to marry them. I hate old has-been hotels, stuffy over their former glory and usually inefficient. A careful definition of words would destroy half the agenda of the political left and scrutinizing THOMAS SOWELL SYNDICATED COLUMNIST evidence would destroy the other half. When you see a 4-year-old bossing a 2-year-old, you are see- ing the fundamental problem of the human race — and the reason so many idealistic political movements for a better world have ended in mass-murdering dictatorships. Giving leaders enough powerto create “social justice” is giving them enough power to destroy all justice, all freedom and all human dignity. Cowardsidentify themselves by attacking those who cannot fight back. CBS struck a new low in cowardice by producing a dramatization of Ronald Reagan’s career that puts hateful wordsin his mouth that he never said. Selling it to another channel was another sign of their gutlessness. As I try to clear out the paper jungle in my office, my wife has suggested using dynamite. But I am savingthat as Plan B. Too many people do notdistinguish the vagariesof fate from the sins of man. There are plenty of both but they are fundamentally different — and whatcan be done about them is very different. Has the travel channel becomethe gambling channel? Do people who react negatively to the word “profits” have any speckof evidenceor any hint of logic to support their reaction? Or are they prepared to admit that they have been conditioned to react to sounds, much like Pavlov’s dog? Recently, as I was driving homein my9-year-old car, I saw someone in a new Lexus turn into my driveway aheadof me.It turned out to be my assistant, bringing some material from the office. Only in America. we would be if James Q. Wilson Most people who read The had not written about crimeorif Communist Manifesto probably have no idea that it was written by a couple of young men who had never worked a dayin their lives, and who nevertheless Milton Friedman had not written about markets, much less where we would be if Winston Churchill had not been prime minister when Britain faced seemingly hopeless odds against the Nazis. Some people believe in limited government as a principle. Others see limited government as simply a fact — that there are only a limited numberof things that government can do moreeffectively than individuals or other organizations can do. How anyone can arguein favor of being nonjudgmental is beyond me. To say that being nonjudgmentalis better than being judgmental is itself a judgment, and therefore a violation of spoke boldly in the nameof“the workers.” Similar offspring of inherited wealth have repeatedly provided the leadership of radical movements, with similar pretenses of speaking for “the people.” You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats pro- cedure is everything and outcomes are nothing. If you have been living in a world where outcomes are everything, you may have a very hard time understanding bureaucratic thinking or practices. the principle. The death penalty for the D.C. sniper was said to be justified Can one person make a difference? I hate to think where because he “showed no re-/'t morse.” When the law gives a «’ pricelist for committing various ; crimes, why should there be a,» discount for acting ability? 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