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From: Laura MacCleery Public Citizen's Congress Watch

Sent: Friday, January 12, 2007 5:13 PM

Subject: The great medical malpractice hoax

Trouble viewing this email? Click here. January 12, 2007 Dear B.E, One of the popular ghost stories of the Bush administration has been the one about how lawsuits are driving doctors into extinction. But, like most ghost stories, this one was just made up to scare you. Research by Public Citizen last April laid to rest the myth of a dwindling doctor supply. And new research released this week shows that there is no medical malpractice lawsuit "crisis" in America. What we did find is that the real crisis in American medical care is a lack of attention to patient safety, the high incidence of preventable medical error and the lack of accountability for a small set of doctors who account for a majority of medical malpractice payments. But we did more than just set the record straight - we also made serious recommendations for how Congress, the States, and medical providers can address these problems and reduce the number of malpractice lawsuits by reducing the incidence of preventable error and improving the quality of health care in our country. You can read the report here [pdf]. Check it out, and let us know what you think at congress@citizen.org. http://www.citizen.org/documents/NPDB%20Report_Final.pdf Thanks, Laura MacCleery Director Public Citizen's Congress Watch

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