State Legislators are Clueless About the Practice of Medicine
Beat the drum! The private practice of medicine is the least regulated economic activity in America. And it is a state-regulated economic activity.
Legislators deserve some slack. If ever an issue “slipped under the radar” it was the regulation of the practice of medicine. Few persons, regardless of standing, questioned doctors before healthcare became one of the largest economic elements within our nation. The evolution from being treated by a family doctor to hopping from one medical specialist to another happened within one generation. Case in point: AMA annual dues in 1950 were $25.00. Those were the days.
No one had ever successfully sued a hospital for medical malpractice, won, and won the appeal, before the Darling case which took place in Southern Illinois in the mid-1960s. The Darling case should have sent state legislatures back to the drawing boards regarding the regulation of medicine. Unfortunately, Organized Medicine was able to turn a groundbreaking case into a mere legal after-thought.
State legislators of that period, suddenly forced with creating original regulatory legislation regarding the practice of medicine didn’t have a clue. The majority of the legislators had lived through WW I and II, the Depression, the Korean War and were then confronted with the Cold War, an issue far more pressing then, than currently perceived.
Their primary consultants were (who else?) doctors and others closely aligned with medical practitioners. Study in detail the content and the date of creation of any state statutes regulating hospital medical staffs and the practice of individual doctors. Next, study any modifications made later to those original statutory regulations. You’ll see right away how little there is to study.
Think about this: What if you were to remove all forms of traffic regulation in a small community? Chaos would quickly reign. There is no doubt that humans benefit from regulation. And large numbers of people require functional regulation. That is as true for the practice of medicine as it is for any other human endeavor.
It is rare that a person can get through life without the need for medical care. Therefore, doctors provide a universally necessary service to society. A burgeoning population, of both people and doctors, demands effective regulation.
Every congressional and state legislator should have to take a 1-2 day course on any existing federal or state regulation regarding the private practice of medicine. Perhaps then they could decide where healthcare change in America should begin.
Is there anyone who can prove that the private practice of medicine is not the least regulated economic activity in America?