Doctors Want Special Treatment

Dr. Edward Volpintesta of Bethel has been at it again (New System needed for medical disputes (4/ /06) on behalf of the Fairfield County Medical Society. Their previous plan to take your constitutional rights away was soundly defeated last year by the General Assembly and now the doctor and his cronies are attempting to payoff lobbyists to put forward the idea of a special health court to deal with a system that only they believe is out of control. There is no evidence that the medical liability system is broken so there is no need to fix it. Indeed, most of the problems lie squarely in the laps of insurer and HMO executives who are figuratively raping the doctors and patients alike,

Health care courts are unconstitutional. They take the matter of dispute resolution out of the hands of juries and deprive claimants of their constitutional rights. They are also unaffordable and there is no justification to give doctors their own judicial system. We should all be treated alike. Doctors, lawyers, accountants, machine operators and bad drivers are entitled to the same justice.

There is also no merit that lay jurors cannot understand medical issues. That is wrong. Jurors, particularly Connecticut jurors are intellectually equipped to decide cases involving medicine, the law, engineering, patents and trademarks, antitrust and death penalty criminal cases. Juries are fair and so are our judges. It is an insult to them to suggest that they are not.

Likewise, Dr. Volpintesta is wrong statistically. He makes much of the disproportionate number of malpractice cases that are decided in favor of the doctor. Yet he foolishly ignores the number of medical suits that are settled before trial reflecting the numerous meritorious cases decided in favor of the injured party. The system isn't about greed and corruption except when it comes to the insurance companies and the HMOs.

I have a prescription for Dr. Volpintesta and his cohorts. Take two Tylenol and go to bed. That way you may stop looking for special treatment just because you are doctors. You are like the rest of us. You're not special. You are not some form of deity. You are entitled to the same form of justice. No more and no less.