Abington Hospital wants to send victims of medical malpractice to mediate to keep them out of court. Sounds good right? Do not be fooled. The “Happy Sue” people aren’t driving the doctors out of town. That’s just what they want you to believe.

Let’s face the facts. The Institute of Medicine published a study stating that 98,000 people DIE each year from medical errors. That doesn’t even take into account the other patients who are permanently disabled or disfigured by the hands of doctors.

Adding insult to injury, the medical community has a long tradition of covering up medical errors. As a patient, if my doctor screwed up, I want some answers. I want you to be honest and I want you to tell me how you’re going to fix it. When you pretend that my suffering is not your fault, I will get angry and call a lawyer.

And to be honest, that’s the consensus among 99% of our customers. However, according to Abington, mediation will solve all of these problems. After all, all the doctors will be back in town, the “too happy, money-hungry” patients will get their deal, and we’ll all call it a day. Does anyone else feel like Abington is shifting some of the blame onto the patient without addressing the real issue that doctors are hurting patients at an alarming rate?

I have a better idea for you Abington Memorial Hospital: why don’t you take some of the money you are spending on mediators and hire more doctors? Studies clearly show that medical errors are caused by sleep-deprived doctors working “marathon” shifts of 24 hours or more. It is also well known that going 24 hours without sleep is equivalent to having a blood alcohol level of 0.10 (meeting or exceeding the legal limit in all 50 states).

Frankly, I remember that old saying “you’ve made your bed, now lie in it”. If you want to unleash sleep-deprived doctors in the operating room, so be it. But at the same time, be prepared to face lawsuits when they make mistakes.

That’s just one of the many ways that hospitals can do something constructive to fix this problem. Let’s stop blaming the victims for “our good doctors leaving town.” Step up and take some responsibility Abington. That’s the only real way to bring the doctors back to town.