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Amendments related to medicine and malpractice (some backed by physicians, some backed by lawyers) were on the ballots throughout the country.
Here's three that passed in Florida:
Links: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&n...ws.com/health/news-article.aspx?storyid=27088
Amendment 3, backed by physicians, limits fees of plaintiffs' lawyers by guaranteeing clients a greater share of damages in medical malpractice cases. (The patient gets 70 percent of the first $250,000 and 90 percent of any amount in excess of $250,000.)
In the $26 million case discussed in another thread, the lawyers wouldn't get nearly as much money. Lawyers typically retain about 30% - not sure of the specifics of that particular case. I'm not sure if that will raise damages sought, or deter lawsuits brought forward.
Amendments 7 and 8 were backed by lawyers.
Amendment 7 requires doctors and hospitals to make reports of their medical mistakes public. There are undoubtedly nuances to reporting medical errors, but I can't help but think hospitals would look bad (at least in the public eye) for fighting the amendment in court. This essentially opens up peer review records (that aren't typically publicly reported) to public scrutiny.
Amendment 8 takes away the licenses of doctors who commit three incidents of medical malpractice. Before passage of the amendment, removal of license was at the discretion of the Florida Department of Health. I'm curious what constitutes malpractice. Similar "three strikes your out" laws in the criminal system have locked people up for life for writing a bad check... Maybe the doctor can just move to another state and practice medicine - I don't know.
Florida citizens also passed an amendment raising the minimum wage $1/hour. Mickey's probably not too pleased with that
I'm not a doctor or doctor-in-training. I'm curious what you med folks think of these.
Here's three that passed in Florida:
Links: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&n...ws.com/health/news-article.aspx?storyid=27088
Amendment 3, backed by physicians, limits fees of plaintiffs' lawyers by guaranteeing clients a greater share of damages in medical malpractice cases. (The patient gets 70 percent of the first $250,000 and 90 percent of any amount in excess of $250,000.)
In the $26 million case discussed in another thread, the lawyers wouldn't get nearly as much money. Lawyers typically retain about 30% - not sure of the specifics of that particular case. I'm not sure if that will raise damages sought, or deter lawsuits brought forward.
Amendments 7 and 8 were backed by lawyers.
Amendment 7 requires doctors and hospitals to make reports of their medical mistakes public. There are undoubtedly nuances to reporting medical errors, but I can't help but think hospitals would look bad (at least in the public eye) for fighting the amendment in court. This essentially opens up peer review records (that aren't typically publicly reported) to public scrutiny.
Amendment 8 takes away the licenses of doctors who commit three incidents of medical malpractice. Before passage of the amendment, removal of license was at the discretion of the Florida Department of Health. I'm curious what constitutes malpractice. Similar "three strikes your out" laws in the criminal system have locked people up for life for writing a bad check... Maybe the doctor can just move to another state and practice medicine - I don't know.
Florida citizens also passed an amendment raising the minimum wage $1/hour. Mickey's probably not too pleased with that
I'm not a doctor or doctor-in-training. I'm curious what you med folks think of these.
