House Panel Drops Thailand's Medical Malpractice Bill

[webfact]

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE BILL

House panel drops medical malpractice bill

By Nerisa Neaykiew

Duangkamon Sajirawattanakul

The Nation

The House committee on government affairs yesterday decided to shelve the Medical Malpractice Victim Protection Bill until all parties concerned can patch up their differences.

The draft law has provoked big clashes between the bill's supporters and some groups of medical workers.

The supporters include malpractice victims' networks and the Foundation for Consumers. Medical workers, meanwhile, are against the bill because they believe it is flawed and will only hurt the relationships between doctors and patients.

Both sides have been fiercely sticking to their stance over the past many months.

Even though the Public Health Ministry has set up a panel to help reconcile the differences, it has not been able to achieve very much.

Supporters maintain that the bill is crucial in protecting patients, while medical workers are threatening to start using "defensive medicine".

"We believe the Public Health Ministry needs to hold more discussions with all parties concerned before the bill can go ahead," Witthaya Kaewparadai said yesterday in his capacity as government chief whip and chairman of the House committee on government affairs.

Witthaya said this after emerging from a meeting with doctors. He also said that the opposition whip, who had initially proposed the draft law, was going to withdraw it. The Medical Malpractice Victim Protection Bill has been on the Parliament agenda since May 5.

"We cannot put this controversial bill before the Parliament," Witthaya said yesterday, adding that the draft law had seriously shaken the morale of medical workers.

Witthaya was public health minister earlier.

Meanwhile, the Foundation for Consumers and its allies announced at a press conference that they disagreed with the decision to shelve the bill.

"We are disappointed and worried," the foundation's manager Saree Ongsomwang said, adding that she hoped the decision was not final yet.

According to her, Witthaya has invited her and her allies to a meeting with the House committee on government affairs next Monday.

"We will have to push this bill through because it's going to benefit both patients and medical workers," Saree said.

Network of Medical Malpractice Victim chairwoman Preeyanan Lorsermwattana said failure to legislate this draft law would only aggravate the problems in the country's public-health sector.

"Without it, patients suffering from medical malpractice will have no choice but to sue the doctors," she said. "The problem will continue and might even worsen".

-- The Nation 2010-10-15

[swifty5x5]

Me thinks big tea money passed through hands.

[siamtexan]

So the Doc's cancontinual cut off the wrong leg or remove the wrong part withoutrecourse.....("adding that the draft law had seriously shaken the morale of medical workers')

.....and this effects themedical workers morale? How is that possible? Guess the victim is not theconcern of the medical workers...

[Thai at Heart]

Seems that the government has well and truly run out of legislative steam.

[Bobr]

The only winners in a Western type medical malpractice system are insurance companies and lawyers. I would not be surprised if this malpractice bill was being supported with bribes and pushed by some of the large American Insurance companies that infest Thailand, perhaps with a little help from their Government. It's naive to think the Thai Government really cares about malpractice victims, so the only conceivable reason this was being pushed is that someone stood to make money from it.

A much better (and less expensive) way to protect the public with with a strict medical review board that could discipline or revoke the license of incompetent doctors.

[Pib]

"Supporters maintain that the bill is crucial in protecting patients, while medical workers are threatening to start using "defensive medicine.""

Or said another way, do a lot of unnecessary medical tests on top of continued issue of a basket full of medications on each visit to the doc.

[Puwa]

Bobr you are uninformed. The bill was drafted by a volunteer network of victims of medical malpractice nationwide, based on the Swedish model. Patients and their families seeking compensation from doctors, hospitals, and the government have very little success, and have been threatened, harassed, and in one case murdered. These are all well documented realities which you can learn about with a little research. The content of the draft bill has nothing to do with lawsuits, American style or other style, but in setting up a central reparations fund to be managed by a multi-party commission. It's the medical establishment with vested interests here, not the victims whose lives have been ruined first be medical mistakes, then by arrogance and corruption. Both the Foundation for Consumers and the Victims Network are highly respected independent organizations run sincere, sharp, selfless people. Google them and find out. Take a moment to learn the real situation.

The only winners in a Western type medical malpractice system are insurance companies and lawyers. I would not be surprised if this malpractice bill was being supported with bribes and pushed by some of the large American Insurance companies that infest Thailand, perhaps with a little help from their Government. It's naive to think the Thai Government really cares about malpractice victims, so the only conceivable reason this was being pushed is that someone stood to make money from it.

A much better (and less expensive) way to protect the public with with a strict medical review board that could discipline or revoke the license of incompetent doctors.

[chantorn]

1 step forward, 2 steps back.

[asiawatcher]

It still is simply the doctors are afraid of malpractice law suits. If they are good practitioners there should be no reason not to allow the bill to pass but interesting how a Government can simply capitulate. T.i.T.

[sirchai]

1 step forward, 2 steps back.

You are wrong. No step forward and three steps back. :jap: