MINISTER OF Health John Junor has issued a warning that an increase in the number of medical malpractice lawsuits will cause the cost of health care to go up. This may be true but we trust that the Minister is not suggesting that those Jamaicans who have been the victims of medical or hospital negligence, in the public and private sectors, should not exercise their rights under the law to sue the State and/or the individual practitioners, as the case may be.
Recent events have brought to light an alarming number of eases in which public health officials have been found wanting in the professional performances of their duties. A legal action in tort, in which money damages are awarded to those who have been hurt, is the best way to ensure that institutional steps are taken to set up proper systems and to see to it that they are monitored carefully. The avoidance of money damages is a strong incentive for acting with due care in all circumstances and, more importantly, money damages provide on-going care and a source of income for those who have been needlessly injured or disabled.
We should, of course, avoid the extremes of tort litigation in the United States where juries, knowing that insurance companies are involved, bring in multi-million dollar verdicts for pain and suffering. This causes the premiums for insurance coverage for doctors to go up which in turn obliges the doctors to charge more for their services. The real beneficiaries of the system are the trial lawyers who sometimes earn a contingency fee as high as 40% of the award. Insurance premiums for specialists in America can run as high as J$5 million a year. There is now a Bill before the US Congress to place a cap of US$250,000 (J$15 million) for non-economic damages in medical negligence cases. Many states have enacted their own legislation limiting the litigation frenzy.
We note also with some concern that the government laboratory is finding it difficult to cope with the demand for DNA analysis in medical and forensic situations. It was DNA testing that pinpointed the mix-up involving baby Pansy in Mandeville and DNA testing will undoubtedly become more and more crucial in a wide range of circumstances in the future. Government must see to it that our DNA testing capability keeps up with demand even as it strives to restore public confidence in the public hospital system.
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