The Kansas Legislature needs to put the brakes on a bill that exempts health care professionals from the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.
What’s been overlooked about the bill, which already passed the House, is that it would exempt not just doctors but all kinds of health care practitioners from charges under the Kansas consumer law — including hearing aid specialists, chiropractors, assisted living nurses, pharmacists, health spa personnel, weight-loss clinics and alternative healers of all sorts.
Consumers have some protection under medical malpractice law, but only in cases of professional negligence, not intentionally deceptive and injurious practices.
For instance, the exemption would give consumers no recourse against a laser eye surgeon who, say, sells a consumer on the latest technique but then performs an entirely different one.
The bill is being opposed by Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison, Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston, and Kansas AARP, among others.
“This bill would prevent my office from investigating the most deceptive and unconscionable acts committed by anyone in the health care industry,” said Morrison.
That should give lawmakers pause. Many of them, upon learning that this exemption covers far more than doctors, are rightly having second thoughts.
True, under the bill, health care practitioners could still be charged for deceptive billing and advertising — but what if the promise of treatment is a statement, not an ad?
Moreover, the exemption sets a bad precedent — no doubt other industries, from home builders to accounting, will be lining up for exemptions if this passes.
Lawmakers should give this bill a closer look and first do no harm to Kansas consumers.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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19 Comments
The Legislators who voted for this bill should be recognized for what they are: Pro-Quackery.
If this becomes law, Kansas can once again return to the forefront of goat gland surgery.
A couple of years ago, a Johnson County surgeon was caught promising and charging for one type of gastric bypass surgery and discovered to have performed a far-riskier, less expensive procedure. The only way he would have been caught was through the process of medical malpractice tort litigation. The Phen-Fen scandal from the 1990s only came to light due to tort litigation.
I have several family members who are in healthcare. They all support rigorous malpractice litigation because they have seen, first hand, how many incompetents, quacks, and charlatans manipulate sick people for profit.
Most certainly there are trial lawyers who attempt to abuse the system. It’s disingenuous to think all healthcare workers are somehow immune to greed and manipulative practices.
The only-est thing that makes democracy work is the concept of checks and balances. Yes, the will of the majority is important, but that should not negate the rights of minorities. Yes, there are a lot of sleazy lawyers out there; but not every healthcare worker is pure as driven snow.
“Snake oil sales man” did not die when the last was tarred and feathered and ran out of town on a rail.The FDA is rightly defamed over a number of things, but also like in the designer drug trade. In the case of cures and treatments if their is no law on the books covering a new treatment there is nothing that an agency can do about it. It often comes down to if there can be no proof shown that a cure does no real harm. But in fact it also does not good. There is little if anything that can be done, so the consumer is duped and the practice continues.
That leaves civil litigation and a campaign to educate the masses as to this is quackery. To give a blanket protection to those that make their money in such amoral way adds insult to injury. If you pick an aliment and do a search on the net, you will find that every illness and disease known to man and a few you have not heard of. Have thousands of claimed cures and treatments, most if you ask a Doctor’s opinion of would learn there is no medical or scientific bases for. But fall into the above “No harm, no foul “ rule, so continue.
I would like to see civil suits replace by criminal ones for doctors who INTENTIONALL harm someone.
I’m tired of the money we ALL must pay in health insurance premiums increases, and higher direct health charges – because folks are suit-happy.
Put caps on malpractice suits, but file CRIMINAL charges against intentional abuse.
There are many studies that actually show that the reason for health care expenses rising is due to “pass-through” administrative costs from insurance companies rather than the costs of malpractice litigation. I guess it’s OK to make the insurance company shareholders rich(er) at the expense of the American people, but it’s not OK for a wronged citizen to be compensated for damages from negligent health care.
This sounds like another way the Reich wing want to screw the masses.
Apophis – cite the studies, please.
I will when I have time. Of course if it isn’t something on the Interent, you will probably not be able to comprehend it anyway. What’s it like to go through life as a bush apologist GSheridan?
Wow, someone ask a simple question to Apophis and he acts like anus.
Must be that is his verified source.
Modern medicine is highly specialized and complex.
Patients have protections in their dealings with health care professionals that they don’t have with other professionals.
There is the Kansas State Board of Healing Arts. The license doctors. Got a problem with your doctor? If it doesn’t rise to the level of malpractice, it still may be serious enough for the Healing Arts Board to investigate licensure issues.
The Healing Arts board has the expertise and authority to punish and/or take away the license of a doctor that is not practicing IAW the law.
A lot of issues could be taken care of by the insurance commissioner also. If the doctor says he’s doing one thing but bills insurance for another procedure that can be taken care of by the insurance commissioner.
There is the tort system that is so out of control that many doctors are leaving the profession rather than pay their ever increasing malpractice premiums. Many doctors are forced by their malpractice carriers to settle cases that they could probably win in court because of the high cost of litigation.
Don’t even get me started on Medicare fraud! Screw up a Medicare claim form and they can fine the doctor $2000.00 per mistake on the form.
All-in-all the patient has enough protections under the law now that I see no reason for the AG to get involved. The AG position is political. Putting health care professionals under the consumer protection act does nothing more than allow him to coerce more campaign funds out of the KMS.
Hank
Ah yes, this blog is so much more civil now that Republican is in charge. With his buddy GSheridan.The above post must be how he intends to be civil if the good bloggers come back.
Is GSheridan going to get even more nasty, if possible, when the real bloggers come back? She sure has not toned anything down yet she gripes about the old bloggers. I think she is just mad because they always showed her to be a very crude and nasty woman.
Neither has learned anything and they have shown no willingness to change their nasty and vile postings. They now have different targets but they treat them the same way. I do not think they will change if the good bloggers come back.
They post rude and hateful comments to Apophis. Meet the new blog bullies who are worse than the old blog bullies. Their little yappers, fleetwood and SOB say me too! Me too!
Republican and GSheridan, I am ashamed, as a real Republican, to have you posting here. You are hypocrits of the worst kind. If you think readers can not see this, you are as thick headed and hard hearted as you appear. You are giving real Republicans a bad name. Narcissists like you do not care.
And no, I am not one of the old posters. As I saw someone post here last week, paranoia runs deep. You dont know me, but feel free to speculate on which of the good posters you think I am. I am just a long time reader. Now you seem to be annoyed with name switchers. Pot, meet kettle.
“if possible, when the real bloggers come back?”Posted by: reader | March 25, 2007 at 10:15 AM
Transparent as a pane of glass. :D
Folks, this is not about malpractice – it’s about deceptive and unconscionable schemes. For instance, selling a used product and representing that it is new. This bill will include pharmacists (like the one in KC who was watering down cancer drugs and the one in Johnson Co. who was selling generic drugs repackaged as brand name drugs); hearing aid dispensers (like the one in Philadelphia that was selling used hearing aids to seniors and representing them as new); nursing homes; assisted living facility; home medical equipment dealers; and on and on. Doctors are but a small fraction of the $12 billion industry (Kansas annual) asking for a an exemption.
Don’t count on the Board of Healing Arts to protect you. The Legislative Post Audit Committee (a state agency) audited the Board and issued a report less than six months ago. The Committee noted that the Board does not even investigate a claim until a provider has been reported three times in three years. (Too bad for those first few victims). The report concluded: “In our minds, the staff policy of not investigating complaints of substandard patient care until a pattern of those complaints is amassed, the number of cases that have been open for two or more years, and the two open cases representing potentially very serious situations, raise questions about whether the public is being adequately protected.” http://www.kslegislature.org/postaudit/audits_perform/06pa10.pdf
Also, remember, the Board of Healing Arts will not facilitate reimbursement or other payment to the victimized consumer. Any fines collected go to the State. (Small consolation indeed).
Consumer protection law should not meaningfully impact malpractice premiums, as insurance does not cover intentional deception or overreaching in consumer transactions. (Nor should it).
With regard to malpractice insurance premiums, get the facts. The Government Accountability Office (under a Republican Administration, House, and Senate) concluded that all this talk about malpractice claims being a reason for insurers to double premiums or for doctors to leave the state is hogwash. A summary of the report can be found at: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9A0DE6DF1738F930A1575AC0A960948260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fOrganizations%2fG%2fGovernment%20Accountability%20Office
Or, you can look at the research published in the May 11 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine establishing that almost every medical malpractice suit filed in the United States has a meritorious basis and rejects claims that the civil justice system is inundated with frivolous lawsuits.
In any event, when your grandmother gets screwed over by a health care provider (as did mine), don’t go to the District Attorney, the Attorney General, or your lawyer for help if this broad exemption passes. In all likelihood, no one will be able to do anything meaningful to help.
Well said proconsumer –It is very obvious that you can get medical help when you have money but can’t get the help when you do not have the money then it is obvious to the intention and orientation of that medical practice, “Greed”.Six dollars charged per an aspirin in a hospital is not an exaggeration of patients, it is a very real happening.I will tell you of my own experience –Here it is on a Saturday night, I felt some irritation in my right eye and I did eyewash and eye drops to soothe the irritation, it felt better afterwards and then I went to bed for the night.At 4 am in the morning, I awoken up with strong pain in the eye and could not tolerate any lights, so I called a friend to take me to the ER for treatment.When the bills started coming in, I was charged $425 dollars for the ER visit and $125 dollars for the physician visit.I was trying to understand as to why I was paying extra $125 for the doctor’s visit that I thought should have been included as part of the ER cost but I notice that there was also a write-off on the bill.My insurance cover 80/20, leaving me the 20 percent but the way the bill was set-up, it panned out that because of the write-off, in comparison I was paying more on the bill then what my insurance did.“So much for how the 80/20 percent works for the consumers.”Insurance companies can negotiate write-offs but an individual cannot and this is not policies rules from the insurance industries but policies rules of the healing arts industries.What has happen to and where are the consumer advocates for cost justification and following of the money trail of both the insurance and the healing arts industries?
The only way it’s going to work is;1. Civil lawsuits for actual damages and pain and suffering.2. A board of Healing Arts elected by physicians that must review the license of any doctor successfully sued for malpractice, knowing that every suit will result in higher premiums for all doctors.3.A lay ombudsman system to advocate patient’s rights and mediate disputes before they reach the courts. This office may also recommend cases be sent directly to review.4. All physicians must pay the same malpractice insurance rate.5. Criminal charges in cases of fraud and product substitution and tampering would automatically and permanently revoke a doctor’s license to practice anywhere in the U.S.6. Physicians may no longer enlist in the military while malpractice charges are pending. This has been one way for doctors to avoid lawsuits and results in harmed patients with no recourse and allows incompetent doctors to treat our soldiers.Doctors want the big bucks, and the good ones deserve them, but when they refuse to police their own ranks of incompetent or dishonest members (and they are the only one’s qualified to)it’s going to cost all of them!
reader writes:
“And no, I am not one of the old posters. As I saw someone post here last week, paranoia runs deep. You dont know me, but feel free to speculate on which of the good posters you think I am.”———–
Sorry bud – you’ll have to try to convince someone who actually cares about your tirade.
Please note GSheridan’s lack of caring evidenced by pasting part of the post in hers and responding to it.
I recognize the frustration that doctors have with all the stuff they need to go through. But really, why should doctors get a free ride on being deceptive? Any other profession that tried such a thing would not get past first base. Lawyers are regulated also but you won’t find any lawyers asking for a free ride on intentional deceptive acts.
Maybe we should give exemptions for deceptive statements about the safety of highways made by contruction companies. Or what about the airline pilot that promises he is not drunk when he takes off?
The bottom line is that intentional deception is wrong and is not to be tolerated. Nobody should be immune from accountability for deception.
Ryan Hodge
If ambalance chasers are against this, I must be for it.
Interesting comment Mr. Hodge.
And if I thought my attorney was guilty of malpractice, oh, let’s say just takes my case to annoy the insurance company into settling and really didn’t help me much at all, just where would I find an attorney to sue him?
Are there any attorneys in this town you could go to to sue another attorney for malpractice? Or, unlike doctors, are attorneys pretty much above reproach?
Just wondering, because I do see some pretty deceptive advertising when it comes to attorneys!
Hank
Where did Ryan go? I guess in real life we are not allowed to ‘cross examine’.