The current liability system often does injured patients a disservice. And that’s the most important reason why medical malpractice reform is needed. 

A study from The New England Journal of Medicine provides stark insight. Researchers found that nearly one in six cases involving patients injured from medical errors received no payment. For patients who did receive compensation, they waited an average of five years before their case was decided, with one-third of claims requiring six years or more to resolve. These are long waits for patients and their families, who are forced to endure the uncertainty of whether they will be compensated or not.

And with 54 cents of every dollar injured patients receive used to pay legal and administrative fees, the overhead costs clearly do not justify this level of inefficiency. 

read full article:  http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/11/oped-injured-patients-deserve-medical-malpractice-reform.html

Premium IOL and refractive surgery patients—and surgeons— may have a new option to protect against a bad outcome.

An attempt to make sense of the arcane business of malpractice awards for vision loss has led a Pennsylvania surgeon to develop an unusual program that is free to refractive surgery patients but provides up to $1 million in coverage against adverse outcomes. VisionLock, from the Patient Confidence Corp. of America, became available to Florida ophthalmologists in August 2009. It provides coverage of up to $1 million to patients in the event of an adverse outcome following premium implant surgery or laser vision correc- tion. To be included in the VisionLock program, surgeons must meet 30 practice certification criteria and have a superior performance record. Currently, five practices in Florida offer VisionLock.

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