When will the outrageous, erroneous cause and effect allegations stop? I am so tired of the victims of medical malpractice being blamed for the malpractice crisis.
My beautiful young husband, father of three, died last year due to medical malpractice.
I am writing this in response to a program on TV, which was presented “infomercial” style and was narrated by Maria Shriver.
It was paid for by Doctors for Medical Liability Reform. I wish they would spend their money cleaning up the profession. In most states, 4 percent of the doctors are responsible for the medical malpractice payouts.
Public relations firms certainly do their job well. Maria Shriver, in this piece of propaganda, describes how medical malpractice payouts are causing the medical malpractice insurance premiums to be so high. Please!
The whole medical crisis is a multifaceted, complex problem. Several factors are contributing to it. The biggest problem is the “big business” medicine has become in this country instead of about quality, affordable care.
The last time we heard from Maria (other than when she campaigned for her husband) she appeared on morning shows to promote her children’s books. Ironically, one book was about coping with deaths in a family. I actually bought the book for my 7-year-old, who witnessed his dad dying on our living room floor.
Do those of us who have suffered so severely from bad medical outcomes now have to be subjected to these commercials about how we victims are the problem?
I am pleading with the public. Become informed. Go to the Washington State Trial Lawyers Web site. Hear the many, many horrendous stories of how people’s lives have been changed forever due to medical malpractice. Learn what happens to middle class people after a medical catastrophe. It’s not a pretty picture.
Most importantly, go to the polls in November. Our whole medical system needs to change. Don’t wait until you or your loved one becomes a medical malpractice statistic.
LESLIE LASHER
Everett
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