This is potentially huge in its implications.
[Congressman] Murtha was first hospitalized with gallbladder problems in December. He had surgery Jan. 28 at the National Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md. He went home, but was hospitalized two days later when complications developed. According to a source close to Mr. Murtha — confirming a report in Politico — doctors inadvertently cut Mr. Murtha’s intestine during the laparoscopic surgery, causing an infection.
The GOP, in its opposition to healthcare reform, tells us that healthcare in the U.S. is the best in the world, in terms of quality, and that the real culprit to rising insurance costs are frivilous malpractice lawsuits, and thus the fix to the insurance problem in this country is massive tort reform, where patient’s rights to sue for malpractice will be severely limited if not eliminated while at the same time establishing damages caps.
Now, our doctors in this country are well trained and heroic. But they also make mistakes. Indeed, if a doctor at the BETHESDA NAVAL STATION can make a mistake DURING A SURGERY ON A PREEMIMENT CONGRESSMAN, what are the chances that doctors across the land make mistakes of this magnitude every day on regular people like you and me?
Malpractice suits are a well to enforce accountability upon doctors, nurses and hospitals for their mistakes. Now, we all know that the modern day Republican Party despises accountability and responsibility, but how much will mistakes by doctors increase if doctors were not subject to malpractice suits for the mistakes they make?