The medical malpractice problem, and some possible solutions.

The solutions to the problems of medical malpractice and malpractice insurance coverage are primarily in the hands of state legislatures. Legislation enacted has been primarily palliative, to assure continued availability of professional liability insurance. Unfortunately, no limit can be placed on the costs of such coverage. Unfortunately, too, no long-term solution has been forthcoming. Any long-term solution must encompass some method or methods of reducing injuries to patients and at the same time changing the system from defense of the physician to compensation of the patient. If such changes are not forthcoming, physicians will become uninsurable and the private practice of medicine as we now know it will disappear in this country.