We are now seeing yet another unintended consequence of the new federal health care laws: more medical malpractice. The presence of more insured patients in the medical market alone will increase the number of incidents of medical malpractice. Part of the reason is mere statistics: more patients will result in more opportunities for additional mistakes. The current pressure on the health care provider is to move you through the system as fast as possible as there are more people standing in line. To accommodate the long lines demanding care, the way medical services are delivered is changing. One writer has described it as a diluted doctor patient relationship. Remember when you had your own doctor? Your doctor knew you, your family, and your medical history. Now it’s rare for only a single doctor to be involved with a patient. Of course, when you have more people involved on both sides of the equation you will have more mistakes. To remain competitive larger organizations are buying out the smaller practices and the single doctor office is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Larger organizations mean larger challenges with communication between medical professionals and patients. The health care profession loses its personal touch. The larger organization also promotes specialization, but as you are passed along from doctor to doctor there come risks with your continuity of care.  Sometimes you don’t even know the name of the doctor who sees you for a short time in the hospital. An increasing number of patients do not even get to see a doctor but are treated by an assistant of some type.

 Just like in football, the more you hand the ball off the more likely it is that someone will drop the ball. If you or loved one is injured in a health care system that drops the ball, give us a call.