I have received a copy of a letter or blog you wrote concerning "Medicaid--Tort Reform." I am a bit surprised that you have been taken in by the myths surrounding medical malpractice. One of the most pervasive of these myths is the "defensive medicine" myth. As a physician (an ER physician, in fact) I can tell you that one man's "defensive" medicine is another man's lifesaver. Would you be willing to be the patient of a doctor "trying to save scarce resources" by not doing some service that is known to produce a benefit?

As an example, consider the PSA test (prostate specific antigen) for prostate cancer. When the test was first developed, there was a great wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth over how much money the test would cost in return for how few significant cancers it would uncover. Now, only about five years later, the annual PSA test is standard of care for every male over a certain age, and I wager that you have had more than one, knowing as you do that prostate cancer is as ubiquitous in males as breast cancer is in females.

Perhaps you think it right that Medicaid recipients alone should be subject to financially based limitations on their care. I daresay you would not feel that way if your health insurance were to disappear (if for instance, you were no longer elected to the legislature and no longer received the benefit of the very generous PEHP plan afforded to legislators.) The 15% of Utahans who lack health insurance also do not feel that way.

Frankly, I am surprised that a person with the intellectual capacity to obtain a law degree would fall for the anecdotal hysteria that passes for health care debate in Utah. I am sending a book to you, The Medical Malpractice Myth. It is a gift and I hope you will read at least the first chapter in its entirety. That chapter details why the problem with rising medical costs is not malpractice insurance premiums (which account for less than 1% of medical costs.) That chapter will show why the problem is the more than 100,000 deaths annually from hospital mistakes; e.g., malpractice. You will find that you have been misled by the medical industry, and you will find suggestions for policy change that make sense.

Sincerely,

Clark Newhall