" In fact, in the 8 years since she wrote her article, physicians and other professionals have been leaving the profession in droves, simply because of the rise in lawsuits, and the coinciding rise in malpractice insurance that doctors must carry to do business today. Indeed, patients are suing for everything from shoddy psychiatric treatment to misdiagnosis and error during medical treatment. It seems as if some patients are simply waiting for a problem with their treatment, so they can take advantage of it and sue, hoping to collect a big award, just as some of the patients did in Loftus' article. The prevailing attitude among many patients is that doctors are all "wealthy" and thus they can afford these lawsuits, whether they deserve them or not.
This offers great implications for the future of healthcare. Just recently, a news report talked about the absence of newly graduated doctors going into family medicine or general practice. They feel they cannot make enough money in GP, and that specialties were where the competitive salaries...
Unspoken is the fear of lawsuits in the GP area, which are much more prevalent there than in many other areas of health care. There are also more insurance and monetary issues in the GP field, which also need to be taken care of to ensure the country does not experience an extreme shortage of family physicians. The wave of the future seems to be more litigation in the healthcare profession, and this does not bode well for quality health care. Perhaps a cap on the amount one can ask for in a lawsuit would help, along with an overhaul of the overall criminal system where it relates to lawsuits. It is clear many of these medical suits are frivolous - people are hoping to gain monetarily at the expense of the healthcare profession. It is a disturbing trend that needs to be stopped before it does irreparable damage to the entire profession.
References
Loftus, Elizabeth F. "The Price of Bad Memories." University of Washington. 1998. 14 Dec. 2006. http://faculty.washington.edu/eloftus/Articles/price.htm
