Medical Malpractice

What proportion of hospitals would be nonexistent if it were not for bad medicine?

Do hospitals sustain themselves through unnecessary surgery, bad drugs and poor medical procedure? Do they kill people in the treatment? KennyB, I am wondering about the propriety of paying out with money for irreversible damages.

Public Comments

1. Unfortunately, whether they are "good" or "bad", there are an awful lot of sick people who still need help, no matter what the motives of the hospital itself may be. Yes, people die from poor procedures. That's where lawyers come in (and we'll ignore the the ramifications of bringing in lawyers) with malpractice claims.
2. Don't be silly. Once every few years, some crazy person pops up who's purposefully harming patients, but it's vanishingly rare. You can be argumentative over choices, especially with the powerful drugs and advanced procedures available, but let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. In the US, people expect a bit too much of their doctors and too little of themselves, but we have to deal with reality, not an idealized world. For instance, I normally recommend that my patients not take decongestants or cough suppressants when they have a cold. The risks of these drugs just don't measure up to their effectiveness. But most of them buy the drugs anyway. I often see people who are obese and out of shape but have had a knee replacement. They wouldn't have needed the surgery if they'd been in shape, and the surgery has known risks of death, but do we confine them to wheelchairs because they're fat? Also, as the population ages, we have a lot of people with multiple organ failures. Treating one may damage another, but are we not to try? Treatment is often like walking a tightrope, and medicine is extraordinarily complicated, so of course mistakes are common, but they're also inevitable rather than purposeful.
3. What an uninformed question! Hospitals don't sustain themselves though unnecessary surgery, etc. etc. I really don't know how to respond to such a question that has obviously not been thought through.