Re: Organ Transplant Debacle
 

this is exactly why you should be compensated for giving organs or blood. then there would be no shortages. imagine poor people having to give away their organs for free because they want to do a good thing. when everyone else involved in the whole scheme of the operation gets paid big bucks. disgusting. they can deal with theidea of people using their organs to raise money. citizens are going to inda to get operations from organs sold there on the black market.

Re: Organ Transplant Debacle
 

anyone that malpractices need to be punished. since we dont do it criminally then civally is the next best thing. the punitive damages need to be high to let others know that the punishment is severe. i am sorry insurance goes up along with our costs. but if you dont charge them, then there is no incentive to do the right thing.

Re: Organ Transplant Debacle
 

It is next to impossible to get punitive damages in a med mal case. Juries just don't hammer docs with punitives, despite what the insurance lobby might have you believe. Getting a decent level of actual damages is a big victory with a jury in a med mal case.

Re: Organ Transplant Debacle
 

That's a pretty dense post. Duke screwed up big time and whether or not the family wants to donate her organs has no bearing on a lawsuit. I personally don't see why they don't want to donate them but I'm sure they are in shock now and don't trust anyone from Duke.

A lawsuit is a given here. If you don't want to allow illegal aliens to sue then you shouldn't allow them to have the operation in the first place. I guess you could just let the girl die. My understanding is that the public donated a lot of the money towards the operation because the media got involved and everyone was rooting for her.

It comes down to the fact that if Duke hadn't screwed up there would be no lawsuit. If the surgery went well and she still died that is tragic but not grounds for a lawsuit.

Re: Organ Transplant Debacle
 

Terrorists don't walk into this country. Unless they can walk on water. If that's the case they do have God on their side.

Drug smuggling is more the fault of the users than the dealers. If there was no demand then people would not go to such crazy lengths to smuggle into our country. A trivial amount of money to many Americans is a fortune to those in poor countries. And no one is forcing Americans to snort coke. A better solution is to legalize drugs rather than continue our futile attempts to stop a product that has an insanely huge profit margin.

People love having illegals cut their grass, wash their dishes, and pick their produce but then they get scapegoated for many problems they have nothing to do with. Like high premiums for malpractice insurance...are illegal aliens putting doctors out of work? No. It's the trial lawyers who want 6 or 7 figures for pain and suffering above and beyond expenses and lost wages. Of course you mention tort reform and 99% of Americans are clueless as to why it's important.

I've got no philisophical problem with tightening our borders with regards to Mexico or Canada. I just doubt it's worth the expense since it's not going to fix anything. Plus the politicians will have to find someone new to scapegoat when things don't go well. Some have made careers out of this topic.

Re: Organ Transplant Debacle
 

I believe that legalizing drugs would probably be a good idea, as the "war on drugs" seems to be probably unwinnable. Yet if we had troops on our borders for other reasons it would probably cut down the flow of drugs also.

Just a couple of weeks ago they caught two Pakistanis trying to walk in over the Niagara area, carrying in their backpacks items typically used in bomb-making.

Re: Organ Transplant Debacle
 

'Terrorists don't walk into this country. '

well if one in a million illegal immigrants is a terrorist then as many as ten terrorists entered last year, according to federal figures.

Re: Organ Transplant Debacle
 

Well what is going on with the out-of-sight premiums then?

I'm not doubting what you say and maybe this is worthy of another thread, but doctors are walking away en masse for a reason now. Paying perhaps 1/3 of your yearly income for malpractice insurance is no small thing. I'm not sure of the figures but my dad is a retired MD and he is really astounded at it. Plus, he says, you pay in subsequent years too...because liability goes on for some years even after you stop practicing. I didn't ask him all the details. Ray Zee is right that there needs to be some financial accountability so to speak, but wtf is going on?

The brief article I read in the Connecticut newspaper highlighted a doctor whose malpractice premiums jumped from $50,000 last year to $75,000 this year--and highly paid surgeons or specialists can pay hundreds of thousands a year in malpractice premiums now.

Re: Organ Transplant Debacle
 

ive heard the main factor in premiums is the interest rate.

interest rates low, insurance companies cant make money on investments so they have to charge for premiums.

high interest rates they make so much off of investments that how much they charge in premiums not a big deal.

Re: Organ Transplant Debacle
 

I meant that since they come from the Middle East they probably flew in. It's not about having troops..it's about making sure people don't come in through the cracks in the system. You can put a million soldiers on the border but if a terrorist comes in on a student visa there's nothing you can do about it.