‘Malpractice--the Doctors’ Rx’

The Los Angeles County Medical Assn. has apparently become a lobbyist for the insurance industry in its attempt to intimidate the public from exercising its constitutional rights to sue in court when suffering injury from the negligence of a doctor.

Karlan boasts about the public disclosure of the establishment of a computerized service that would identify “litigation-prone” patients and “parasitical professional plaintiffs.” But who will decide who is “parasitical”? Has the medical association created objective standards in this area? A good doctor has nothing to fear if he is sued for malpractice. The burden of proof is on the plaintiff. Since the plaintiff’s attorney generally works on contingency basis, he has nothing to gain from pursuing a case that has no merit.

For the sake of consistency, I suggest that the names of doctors who “join” this computerized service will also be made available to the public. I doubt if anyone in his right mind would seek the services of such doctors.

TIBOR ZELIG

Granada Hills