HMO Found Responsible for Suicide

[Fellows, Jeffrey]

Thanks Marta for the post. Although I think the decision is a good one - I
believe that HMOs should be held accountable - the issue of extending legal
liability to organizations for the poor care they provide can have some
serious unintended consequences. For instance, a result of this process
could be a drive to have organizations "licensed" in the same way physicians
and advanced practice nurses are. As part of my dissertation on the
proletarianization of physicians I noted that the issue of licensing
organizations and not providers has already been put out (I doubt anyone was
listening besides me). I could certainly envision that HMOs would want seek
to change practice licensing laws if they are to be held legally liable for
malpractice. In such a scenario, the shift away from docs and to HMOs could
radically weaken physicians' and other providers' medical decision-making
power. Thankfully, I think the public would never go for it, but you never
know. The social and political attacks on providers over the past 30 years,
led largely by financial capital interests (insurers) has had a significant
impact on public perception of physicians.

Jeff

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