A couple of weeks ago I got into a little discussion with a friend over the state of medical care in the United States. My friend knows I represent individuals who are injured or killed as a result of medical negligence. While my friend acknowledged that medical mistakes can and do injure many patients, he kept stressing how, overall, the provision of medical care in the United States is the best in the world.
I beg to disagree and can point to at least one publication which agrees with me. In a publication entitled, “Health Affairs,” Cathy Shoen shines some light on what chronically ill patients think of the provision of medical care in the U.S. Her article, “In Chronic Condition: Experiences of Patients with Complex Health Care Needs in Eight Countries,” does not paint a pretty picture! One-third of chronically ill patients in the U.S. have experienced faulty prescriptions, incorrect test results, medical errors, or delays in receiving abnormal test results. Almost one-half of the patients surveyed reported they felt poorly organized health care had wasted their time or was of little or no value.
My Take: My high school science teacher would not give the American health care system a passing grade.