Junk Lawsuits
Shane Bruner
Stephen Boston
English 111
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Junk Lawsuits In America, we all have this thought in our heads that if there is a medical accident someone must pay for it. This way of life is destroying the America that we all love. Medical laws suits need to be regulated because they have caused the rise in healthcare costs, doctors being afraid to practice medicine, and the clogging of the court system. There are many expenses to the average American because of this sue happy life style we are now living. First, there is the extreme cost to healthcare. According to the web site sickoflawsuits.org, in 2006, the annual cost of healthcare rose by 124 billion dollars due to liability costs. There is an estimated 50 billion dollars spent per year in unnecessary test to prevent malpractice lawsuits. The costs of delivering a baby has gone through the roof due to the fact that doctors are afraid that they will get sued over an accident that they may have not been able to prevent. Yes, deaths are a terrible thing and need to be prevented the best they can be, but accidents happen. We have all have made mistakes in our life time, but if every time we made a mistake we got sued, there would be a lot of things that we wouldn't do because of that fear. It is just amazing that the same people that are constantly complaining about the extreme costs of healthcare are the same people that are suing the healthcare companies. Also, many people want a universal healthcare system because a lot of people cannot afford to have healthcare. America has created its own problem yet again. Next, there is the cost to taxpayers. Due to people suing cities and states for a number of different things, they have been forced to raise taxes to everyone. For instance, The People Against Lawsuit Abuse found between 2001 and 2003 New York City paid out nearly 189 billion dollars to people that had fallen on city sidewalks. The following year, New York City
Stephen Boston
English 111
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Junk Lawsuits In America, we all have this thought in our heads that if there is a medical accident someone must pay for it. This way of life is destroying the America that we all love. Medical laws suits need to be regulated because they have caused the rise in healthcare costs, doctors being afraid to practice medicine, and the clogging of the court system. There are many expenses to the average American because of this sue happy life style we are now living. First, there is the extreme cost to healthcare. According to the web site sickoflawsuits.org, in 2006, the annual cost of healthcare rose by 124 billion dollars due to liability costs. There is an estimated 50 billion dollars spent per year in unnecessary test to prevent malpractice lawsuits. The costs of delivering a baby has gone through the roof due to the fact that doctors are afraid that they will get sued over an accident that they may have not been able to prevent. Yes, deaths are a terrible thing and need to be prevented the best they can be, but accidents happen. We have all have made mistakes in our life time, but if every time we made a mistake we got sued, there would be a lot of things that we wouldn't do because of that fear. It is just amazing that the same people that are constantly complaining about the extreme costs of healthcare are the same people that are suing the healthcare companies. Also, many people want a universal healthcare system because a lot of people cannot afford to have healthcare. America has created its own problem yet again. Next, there is the cost to taxpayers. Due to people suing cities and states for a number of different things, they have been forced to raise taxes to everyone. For instance, The People Against Lawsuit Abuse found between 2001 and 2003 New York City paid out nearly 189 billion dollars to people that had fallen on city sidewalks. The following year, New York City