Medical negligence costs aimed to be cut
Research in resolving
medical negligence cases by mediation rather than costly and lengthy court proceedings got under way this week in Britain. The pilot scheme, backed by the Department of Health, is to be implemented in two regions--Anglia and Oxford, and Northern and Yorkshire. Medical negligence comes under the banner of
personal injury and has often led to expensive law suits that bring hospitals and doctors under severe scrutiny after litigation.
Mediation involves a neutral third party acting as go between to help the two sides reach agreement. Medical negligence suits often take a considerable amount of time and cost a lot, protracted court hearings and litigation can be a strain the patients time and finances. Mediation is spawned from Family Law where couples going through a divorce usually use mediators to come to an amicable agreement. Medical negligence cases have a lower success rate than other personal injury claims, and legal costs can exceed the compensation at stake
If the scheme is successful and shows real progress, it could be extended nationwide. The aim is to resolve disputes quickly and cheaply. Additionally, patients will be able to bargain for outcomes not available in the courts, like compensation, changes in hospital practices or retraining for a doctor.
Lord Woolf had previously highlighted the problems with medical negligence arrangements mainly in that cases tended to take a long time to conclude, and at great expense. This led clinicians to avoid risky procedures and be more defensive in their approach to their work. By taking out a law suit against a hospital, the current system arguably encourages an adversarial approach and is too confrontational, yet on the other hand litigation is viewed by some as a necessary evil as the lack of alternatives to legal redress made it very difficult for the victims of
medical accidents or negligence to obtain explanations of what happened to them and in particular to extract apologies.
The problems with the NHS and malpractice have been numerous. Statistics from the Department of Health have revealed that five per cent of the general population report suffering some injury or other adverse effects of medical care and worryingly that annual NHS clinical negligence expenditure was just £1 million in 1974-75 with t his figure rising to £446 million in 2001-02. The factors cited in explanation include underfunding, staff shortages and overwork and conflicting priorities.
Indeed, mediation fits the actual picture of what is going on these days regards malpractice suits. A National Audit Office review found that 95 per cent of cases are settled out of court, providing further fuel to the argument that mediation is necessary. By taking matters to court the costs have been ridiculously high. Whenever the NHS has been accused of trying to cover up malpractice and deliberately withholding evidence to hamper such prosecutions, denying liability and arguing over costs has also led to controversially high legal fees incurred by defending these proceedings.
Updated on 6/24/2008