The American legal system is the best, we’re told. Point out one that’s any better!
Well, I could certainly point out a number of other legal systems where the tort industry isn’t so rampantly out of control. The impossible cost of paying for medical malpractice suits, for example, has persuaded a lot of doctors to get out of their chosen profession. And it could very well be a driving force behind the move to Obamacare, a program which current polls say has only 12 percent support of the American public.
Ultimately, though, HOA tort lawyers are destined to kill the “goose with the golden eggs.” Rampant embezzling, harassment lawsuits and foreclosures can only lead to one thing: Mortgage companies will stop lending to homeowners in HOA Amerika. If U.S. Bank, Bank of America, or Wells Fargo are paying attention they’ll discover that loans are riskier inside Homeowners Associations. They’ll find that property values are not protected in the typical HOA. When that happens a lot of high-priced HOA lawyers are going to be looking for jobs at the local 7/11.
One can only hope.
“The impossible cost of paying for medical malpractice suits, for example, has persuaded a lot of doctors to get out of their chosen profession.”
There’s a lot wrong with our injustice system, but please don’t uncritically pass along the old myths.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all
The Cost Conundrum
What A Texas Town Can Teach Us About Health Care.
by Atul Gawande June 1, 2009
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McAllen has another distinction, too: it is one of the most expensive health-care markets in the country…almost twice the national average.
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One night, I went to dinner with six McAllen doctors….
Some were dubious when I told them that McAllen was the country’s most expensive place for health care. I gave them the spending data from Medicare. In 1992, in the McAllen market, the average cost per Medicare enrollee was $4,891, almost exactly the national average. But since then, year after year, McAllen’s health costs have grown faster than any other market in the country, ultimately soaring by more than ten thousand dollars per person….
“It’s malpractice,” a family physician who had practiced here for thirty-three years said.
“McAllen is legal hell,” the cardiologist agreed. Doctors order unnecessary tests just to protect themselves, he said. Everyone thought the lawyers here were worse than elsewhere.
That explanation puzzled me. Several years ago, Texas passed a tough malpractice law that capped pain-and-suffering awards at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Didn’t lawsuits go down?
“Practically to zero,” the cardiologist admitted.
“Come on,” the general surgeon finally said. “We all know these arguments are bull****.