U.S. Needs Compensation Program for Patients Harmed by Medical Mistakes or Malpractice

  • by: Susan V
  • recipient: US Congress

Propublica reports that over a million patients treated in the U.S. health care system suffer harm every year. But our litigation-based system is not helping most of these victims and is doing little if anything to improve health care

Some states make it harder than others for injured patients to sue for damages. For example in 2011 North Carolina’s newly elected Republican legislature passed laws designed to restrict a victim’s ability to even file a claim for medical neglect or malpractice. According to one NC attorney, this so-called “malpractice tort reform” limits the damages a victim or family member can recover, raises requirements medical experts must attest to before the suit is filed, raises the burden of proof to clear and convincing, and shortens the time frame to bring a malpractice claim in certain cases. To make matters worse the advanced costs alone have increased dramatically in recent years, some exceeding $200,000, and after all that, less than 25% of litigants in NC win.

Because it’s so difficult to bring attention to medical mistakes and even harder to get practitioners to admit to what went wrong, more patients are being harmed.

However, says Propublica countries like Denmark have a system in place that helps them quickly detect and correct mistakes causing patients harm. It’s a “comprehensive” national compensation program, which allows medical providers to learn from the victims’ experiences “by collecting and analyzing the data” they provide.

Sign this petition to ask Congress to adopt a medical compensation program modeled after Denmark’s to help patients in the US who are harmed by medical error or malpractice but can't afford litigation. 

To Members of Congress:


ProPublica’s report highlights the problems with our health care system, documenting not only the high number of patients who have been harmed by either medical error, malpractice or substandard treatments in the United States, but also how difficult it is, under the current system, for victims to receive any compensation for their injuries.


Focusing on Denmark’s approach to this problem, the report provides good reason for the U.S. to at least consider following Denmark’s model of providing a “comprehensive compensation program,” that the U.S. can adjust or improve


According to the report, several countries, and even Virginia, have made changes that are not too unlike the Danish program, and it adds that “Common to all these programs is a commitment to provide information and compensation to patients regardless of whether negligence is involved. That lowers the bar of entry for patients and doesn’t pit doctors against them, enabling providers to be open about what happened.”
In Denmark and a few other countries, “medical injury claims aren’t handled by the court system but by medical and legal experts who review cases at no charge to patients. Patients get answers and can participate in the process whether or not they ultimately receive a monetary award” Under this system, filing a claim is free and so is filing an appeal. Though awards are typically not as high as those gained from litigation in the U.S,, many more claims are filed in Denmark and many more patients receive some compensation.


And because Danish doctors don’t deal with the threat of a malpractice suit, they tend to be more helpful to patients who are harmed and in some cases, says ProPulblica’s report, they even file claims for the patients. This leads to a more open discussion of how to make treatments better. And to further help patients, the law requires all Danish physicians to inform patients when medical care has caused harm.


Even though this system is not perfect, at least it is allowing more patients to be compensated for harm caused by medical treatment, and it encourages more cooperation between providers and patients in a way that improves overall care.


We, the undersigned, therefore ask our lawmakers to take a closer look at Denmark’s system and seriously consider legislation that will mandate a similar program that ensures fair compensation to victims of the U.S. health care system.


Thanks for your time.

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