This newspaper article on the medmal situation in Texas is obviously written mainly from the standpoint of what is good for attorney’s (not the heading, “legal trade”). Since the whole point was to reduce the amount of legal trade going on, the law is naturally perceived as bad news.

Still, it is noteworthy that the story reports there are still medical malpractice cases being filed, just not as many as before. This should count as evidence, I think, that it is not impossible to go to court in the case of malpractice. Rather, it indicates (hopefully) that only those cases that are worth hearing should go to court.

Nevertheless, we should keep our eye on Texas and see what happens. But we should also be careful who tells us what is going on. Notice that one lawyer claims, “they didn’t just close the courthouse doors to frivolous cases, but to most all cases.” But the next paragraph says the number of suits is half what it was. That doesn’t sound like “almost all cases.”

The attitude for some seems to be that the sudden influx of new doctors to Texas represents a threat rather than a blessing. I’ve already put on my amateur economist hat on this issue. Again, the only thing we can do is wait and see if prices drop and people have more affordable medicine or if the quality of care deteriorates.

The story is well worth reading for its verson of the good and the bad. Hopefully, the benefits will continue–like reduced costs and the availability of certain specialties that had been driven entirely out of the state–while liabilities such as an underfunded state Medical Board will be addressed.