Editorial Says Doctors, Lawyers Both Wrong

A USA Today editorial says the "only thing" trial lawyers and doctors "have in common" on medical malpractice "is that they're both wrong. Doctors overestimate the degree to which lawsuits drive up medical costs (malpractice costs account for less than 2% of all health care spending, according to the Congressional Budget Office). Lawyers underestimate the degree to which even a few outsized verdicts spread fear and influence doctors' behavior." Unless "doctors and lawyers move from the extremes of the malpractice debate, the public will be denied what it wants most a reduction in the medical errors that occur all too often."