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Emergency Room Immunity Picks Up Support

By Joe Consumer

Well, the Georgia Supreme Court has spoken today, upholding a state statute that makes it very difficult for victims of emergency room medical malpractice to get access to the courts.  

Hope these ER immunity laws aren?t a new trend but we fear they might be.  The kinds of malpractice that can occur in an ER is truly horrendous, and many cases involve children.  (See a few examples, here.)  They are also more likely to involve the uninsured.

In its seminal study To Err is Human (which said that that up to 98,000 die in hospitals each year due to malpractice), the Institute of Medicine (IOM) found that ER?s are the hospital location with the highest proportion of negligent adverse events (52.6 percent).  It's well known that this is where people without health insurance often go for primary care.  In another study called Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late, IOM said that uninsured persons with traumatic injuries are less likely than those with insurance to be admitted to the hospital, receive fewer services if they are and are more likely to die.

We also know that litigation improves patient safety, especially in hospitals.   ER immunity- another example of patient safety gone wrong. 

 

Full post as published by ThePopTort on March 15, 2010 (boomark / email).