Texas Has Worst Health Care, Lowest Medical Malpractice Payouts

A recent WalletHub report rated Texas as one of the worst states in the country when it came to health care. On the plus side, however, Texas is one of the best states in the country for doctors to practice medicine. Why? Because medical malpractice payouts are lower here than in any other state. This begs the question: Is the lack of accountability in the medical field a direct cause of Texas’s ranking at the bottom of the list?

The study indicates that minorities such as Hispanics have the worst outcomes in Texas than in any other state. The situation is only marginally better for Blacks in Texas. Even among high-income earners, Texas ranks only 41st out of 50.

Nonetheless, Texas has become a haven for doctors practicing incompetent medicine due in large part to our medical malpractice laws that heavily favor doctors, limit damages of plaintiffs, and lack regulatory oversight for getting bad doctors out of practice.

Low medical malpractice payouts do not equate to a good medical environment 

Despite the fact that Texas laws protect doctors from medical malpractice lawsuits, WalletHub ranked Texas 25 among all states to practice medicine in. Doctors in Texas made comparably less than those in other states.

One of the major reasons why the quality of care in Texas is comparably lower than in other states is the rules surrounding the circumstances under which an individual can apply for Medicaid. Texas is one of a handful of states that do not take federal money for Medicaid, which services low-income families in the U.S. This has left a large cross-section of low-income people without any health insurance at all.

It gets worse 

Texas now has the lowest ranking in the developed world when it comes to pregnancy. That means more women die in Texas hospitals than any country like the United States that is considered “first-world” (an outdated term used to compare capitalist countries to communist ones wherein third-world countries were everyone else or developing countries).

While it’s true that the U.S. has a below-average ranking for pregnancy issues, the problem is amplified by our state’s failure to extend Medicaid coverage to more people in need. In the majority of cases, you will see affluent suburban hospitals with birth injury ratings at the prevailing average for developed nations. It is only in low-income neighborhoods that the numbers begin to go down. Texas showed less disparity between high-income and low-income people when it comes to medical services, but the rankings were lower for both.

Talk to a Houston Medical Malpractice Attorney Today 

Regardless of how affluent you are, doctors are required to offer every patient the prevailing standard of care for the industry. When they fail and that failure injures a patient, the patient can recover damages related to past and future medical expenses, lost wages, and reduced quality of life. Call the Houston personal injury attorneys at Livingston & Flowers today to schedule a free consultation and learn more about how we can help.

Source:

localprofile.com/2021/03/23/texas-ranks-no-1-when-it-comes-to-medical-malpractice-payouts-not-so-much-for-healthcare-coverage/