Fw: Total and Utter Garbage from AMA Mouth on Breast Implants

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message ----- From: ilena rose

Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 7:41 AM

Subject: Total and Utter Garbage from AMA Mouth on Breast Implants

Total and Utter Garbage from AMA Mouth on Breast Implants

Ilena Rosenthal

http://www.HumanticsFoundation.com/daily.htm

EXCERPT:

A few years ago there was a nationwide scare among women who feared that silicone breast implants could leak and cause future health problems.

Although there was no medical evidence of such an outcome, thousands of women had procedures to remove their implants and numerous lawsuits were filed."Because of our litigious system, science didn’t matter," Dr. Coble said.

Heath-care system threatened by suits, AMA leader says

The most serious problem confronting the nation’s health-care system is the lack of medical-malpractice tort reform in most states, said Dr. Yank Coble, president of the American Medical Association."We still have the best [health-care] system in the world. People come from all over the world to get care here. But if we’re not careful, we’ll lose it," said Dr. Coble, a ville, Fla., endocrinologist who spoke at yesterday’s Toledo Rotary Club luncheon at the Zenobia Shrine on Madison Street.Exorbitant jury awards have raised the cost of medical malpractice insurance to the extent that some physicians are leaving their practices and others are moving to states where tort reform legislation has been passed, he said."It is a system broken in terms of fairness in every way," he sai d.The impact on patients has been severe.Dr. Coble cited Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania as three states with serious problems. In Florida, he said, where the cost of medical malpractice insurance has risen 2,300 percent in recent years, women who used to have to wait two weeks for a mammogram now have to wait two to six months. Texas has a severe shortage of obstetricians, while physicians are leaving Philadelphia in droves.Dr. Coble cited six states - Wisconsin, California, Louisiana, New Mexico, Colorado, and Indiana - that are attracting physicians because of tort reform legislation. Ohio legislators passed a tort reform bill in 1996, but the state’s supreme court overturned the decision in 1999. New legislation is pending.The California bill, passed in 1975, has become the model for a national tort reform bill that has passed the House but faces a stiff challenge in the U.S. Senate, Dr. Coble said.One misconception about tort reform, Dr. Coble said, is that it eliminates hefty compensation awards. In California, he said, juries are still handing down economic awards for loss of income of $10 million or more.The difference, however, has been a cap of $250,000 on punitive damages and compensation for pain and suffering.A few years ago there was a nationwide scare among women who feared that silicone breast implants could leak and cause future health problems.Although there was no medical evidence of such an outcome, thousands of women had procedures to remove their implants and numerous lawsuits were filed."Because of our litigious system, science didn’t matter," Dr. Coble said.Dr. Coble believes that one byproduct of the lack of tort reform has been a decrease for six straight years in the number of medical school applications."That’s very unusual. Medical school applications usually rise when the economy is slumping," he said.Dr. Coble said tort reform would not lead to less policing of physicians who make mistakes. He said that the country’s certification and re-certification process makes the country’s medical system "the most scrutinized system in the world.""Still, there are many [things] we should do better," he said.

MSN 8 helps ELIMINATE E-MAIL VIRUSES. Get 2 months FREE*.