This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

David S. Starr, MD, JD, FRACS, FRCSC
Bankston, Wright, and Greenhill Attorneys at Law Austin, Tex

JAMA. 1991;266(9):1216.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—Those of us involved in the care of indigent patients must applaud the motives of Dr Moore.¹ However, the article did not discuss the immense barriers to the practical implementation of such a scheme.

First, we cannot ignore the dramatic effect that the threat of malpractice litigation has on physician and hospital behavior, collectively termed "defensive medicine." My experience in six health care systems around the world and in missionary endeavors in third-world countries has convinced me that much of American medicine is devoted not to patient care but to trying to avoid the burden and expense of litigation. There must be some relief for physicians and hospitals from the tangled web of malpractice litigation.

Second, the article does not address the large administrative burden currently carried by the existing "crazy quilt" of overlapping federal, state, and county health care services. Government health care in America . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?