Posted by John Ager on 20 September 2012.

A fellow medical malpractice lawyer and friend of mine recently directed my attention to an article which discussed the large number doctors who worked with other physicians they thought were dangerous, yet did nothing.  He noted that self-policing, which physicians are permitted to do confidentially following an medical negligence event,  was not working to reduce the incidence of injuries and deaths caused by medical negligence.  That’s where we come in, he observed, and he’s right.  Letting the fox guard the chicken coop has never worked out very well.  While I like the notion that sometimes lawyers can step in and save the day, we are really limited to treating the symptoms of medical negligence by helping those who have been injured by it, rather than the source of the disease.

I recently wrote about the prevalence of medical negligence injuries and deaths, noting that until the debate shifts from the alleged harm being done by malpractice lawsuits  to the real harm being done by health care providers, little progress will be made in making medicine safer.  I like to think that medical negligence lawyers are helping do this in some small way.  Unfortunately, the reality is that lawsuits are not a deterrent to bad medicine because they consume so little of the available health care dollars –  less than 1% by some accounts.  Lawsuits will never make medicine appreciably safer because they truly don’t affect the bottom line.

On the bright side, medical negligence lawyers can and do make a huge difference in the lives of  our clients.  Fixing a client’s harm is tremendously satisfying.  Although that’s where we come in, it seems that’s just about where we go out as well.