The Quality of Service Administered to Patients - Essay Example

? Medical malpractices cost affect the delivery of Health Care Medical malpractices cost affect the delivery of Health Care Delivery of Health Care is an issue that interests people globally. The taxpayers want a good and reliable health care provided by the government. Certain factors, however, play a role in the achievement of a quality care in the country. Therefore, the Government came up with the medical malpractice cost bill that aims at making physicians accountable at work. Since the introduction of this scheme, there has been different views on the effectiveness of the malpractices cost on health care delivery. The medical malpractices cost has both positive and negative effects on the delivery of health care. The positive effects result in better health care while the medical practitioners experience the negative effects of malpractices costs. Medical malpractices refer to the professional negligence of health care providers on a patient during treatment, which causes injury or death of a patient. To control the number of errors that occur in the health sector, the government set up premiums that physicians pay on commitment of a malpractice. The cost of the malpractice premiums differ from one county to another. A number of the malpractice cases are because of errors committed during treatment. Despite the premiums being different from state to state, the quantity is usually a high amount that doctors find it difficult to pay (Anderson, 2005). In a positive way, the premiums have helped in improving the quality of health care. Through the scheme, the health system has cracked down on careless physicians who do not follow their job prescription. In addition, since the introduction, the cases of careless mistakes that physicians perform during procedures have reduced in number. Through the procedure, incompetent physicians have laid down their tools because of the strict regulations in place. Thus, through the above measures, the delivery of health care has improved (Anderson, 2005). The medical malpractice premium charged may help to strengthen the doctor and patient relationship. When Physicians learn to take the cost in a positive way, it may help in establishing a mutual alliance that results in a positive outcome. By sharing information with patients concerning procedures, helps patients understand the doctor’s situation further decreasing the chances of any litigation. By so doing, doctors appear collaborative, and in case of a mistake, a patient can easily understand the circumstances that the doctor was in and may avoid filling a complaint. A good relationship established between patients and doctors encourages the physician to monitor the patient after the treatment is complete. Monitoring patients is a good way to ensure proper patient recovery (Dill, 2008). Introduction of the malpractice premiums has affected the labor force in the health sector. Premiums administered influence the number of people who become physicians. The high fines that physicians pay, in case of mistakes, makes the occupation unpopular amongst the coming generation. In addition, some physicians opt to change occupation since they feel uncomfortable with the conditions that come with that occupation. Thus, the reduction in the quantity of the labor force, directly affects the quality of service administered to patients (Dill, 2008). The high premiums lead to unbalanced distribution of the labor force. As mentioned earlier, the cost paid by the physicians as malpractice fee varies from one state to another. Therefore, the physicians tend to move to areas with a lower malpractice fee. This change in the labor force balance affects the service administered to patients. Some areas will have adequate care while the other areas will suffer. Thus, the labor force strains to meet the demands of providing a quality health care. The imbalance in the quantity of the labor force in an area affects the quality of heath care administered to the patients (Dill, 2008). The introduction of the medical premiums has led to losing of experienced physicians in the medical field. Experience comes with the long time that an individual serves in his line of duty. In the medical field, the elderly who are more experienced quit jobs because of the introduction of malpractice premiums. In resent studies, the number of old doctors stopping to practice has been on the increase (Baker, 2011). To supplement their number, Health care system has absorbed young inexperienced physicians to replace them. The move of losing experienced physicians is a blow to the delivery of quality care to patients all over the country. Despite the young physicians having knowledge in the field of medicine, they need to have experience in delivery of quality care. The use of medical malpractices cost leads to wastage of the resources that the health sector could use in improving the delivery of health care. This is because, to avoid lawsuits, doctors now practice defensive medicine, which is expensive, and time wasting. Defensive medicine refers to when doctors prescribe many unnecessary treatments and tests for them to avoid lawsuits (Dill, 2008). From a study, the defensive medicine is a major contributor to inefficiency in the health-care system. In the practice of defensive medicine, doctors aim at avoiding lawsuits other than concentrating on the patient’s wellbeing. The act, thus, undermines medicine’s basic task, which is providing the best possible care that a patient requires. In addition, according to researchers at Harvard University, defensive medicine does not prevent medical errors and the patient injuries that are avoidable (Baker, 2011). In addition, the introduction of the scheme has increased the cost of providing health care. Since the medical practitioners need to be extra careful in administering treatment, they need to change the manner in which they carried out procedures. To be certain, the physicians carry out more tests than they used to do. The additional tests contribute to additional cost in administering health care. Therefore, the health care system wastes resources that it can utilize in other areas within the system (Anderson, 2005). As seen above, the effects of medical malpractices cost affects the delivery of Health care services. The effects are both negative and positive. The premiums imposed on physicians help the practitioners take a greater care in administering treatment than they did before. In addition, the medical scheme has instilled discipline in medical practitioners, who were careless in their line of duty. On the other hand, the medical malpractices costs have caused negative impacts in the delivery of health care. A number of experienced physicians have quit practice due to the fear of lawsuits. Thus, the doctor-patient ratio has decreased making the delivery of quality care difficult. A number of physicians have transferred to areas where the medical malpractice cost is friendly. This movement has caused an imbalance in the distribution of medical practitioners around the country. As seen above, the negative effects of administering medical malpractices premiums are higher than the positive effects. Thus, the government should seek better ways to improve quality care in the health sector other than imposing the medical malpractices premiums. References Anderson, R. E. (2005). Medical Malpractice: A Physician's Sourcebook. New York: Springer. Baker, T. (2011). The Medical Malpractice Myth. Chicago: ReadHowYouWant.com. Dill, L. J. (2008). An Examination of the Impact of Current Medical Malpractice Issues on the Quality of Obstetrical Healthcare Services in Michigan. New York: ProQuest. Read More