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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

TN Legal Expert: Justice Important Part of Health Care Reform

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Monday, December 28, 2009   

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - While many people feel there is a need for tort reform involving medical malpractice, and malpractice cases get a lot of attention, the actual cost of seeking reliable justice in such cases is only a small percentage of health care costs each year.

Randall Kinnard, a Nashville attorney and past president of the Tennessee Justice Center, says he is in favor of reforming the system, as long as patients' rights are protected and they still have the legal right to a jury trial.
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"A lot of people are for tort reform, as it's called, but then when malpractice happens to you or a close loved one, it's a different story."

Language in the national health care reform bill just passed by the U.S. Senate calls for a pilot program to determine a better way of resolving disputes involving possible medical malpractice. Kinnard says a better system could save millions of dollars and also achieve much-needed justice when a medical provider is found incompetent. However, he still believes that those at fault in such cases should pay for correcting their mistakes.

"Then the person finds out really what unfair damage is all about. And then they do want justice and full compensation, which I of course believe they should be entitled to."

Kinnard says the fear of frivolous lawsuits does drive doctors to order extra tests and procedures, just to avoid possibly being hailed into court. According to a University of Connecticut study, 83 percent of 900 doctors in Massachusetts practiced such "defensive medicine" by ordering tests, procedures, referrals and hospitalizations costing millions of dollars.


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