Tort reform is not the answer — that’s the headline of an editorial in the Des Moines Register. The editorial lays out the arguments in favor of tort reform as a way to save money on health care, but comes to this conclusion:
The truth is some Americans are injured by health-care workers. They contract infections when hospital workers don’t wash their hands. They have the wrong foot removed in an amputation. They are victims of botched surgeries and negligent practitioners and preventable medical errors.
These Americans have a right to pursue their complaints in the U.S. court system. Doctors do not deserve special protections from Congress in the event of such complaints.