CBS12 News Team

Local doctor says health care ruling lacks significant malpractice reform

FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- Doctors are weighing in on the Supreme Court ruling with mixed results as well. Physicians say the law will empower patients but will also take power away from doctors.

Healthcare providers on the Treasure Coast say the bill has its good parts and bad parts, and they are split on today's ruling.

Making rounds at 4 different hospitals Dr. Moti Ramgopal sees dozens of end-of-life patients.

Dr. Moti Ramgopal/Midway Immunology Research Center: They are on a ventilator, on dialysis, every imaginable medical test, every imaginable medical care or antibiotic needs to be given.

It is one of the major items not addressed in the healthcare reform act. When is enough enough?

Dr. Moti Ramgopal/Midway Immunology Research Center: We need to have dignity in dying. Not to be laying in a bed waiting to die--there's no dignity in that.

End of life care and the skyrocketing costs that come with it is no where to be found in the Healthcare Reform Act. The reform leaves out any significant malpractice reform, leaving doctors at risk.

Dr. Moti Ramgopal/Midway Immunology Research Center: Physicians see this bill as very complex, down the road is it going to be beneficial for patients in the long run? Probably. But what bothers us significantly is it comes back to 2 basic issues. One, tort or malpractice reform, and the second issue is end of life decisions.

Hospital associations say it will address the growing amount of those abusing and clogging up emergency rooms and will lower costs at hospitals who shoulder the emergency cost of the uninsured. But physicians disagree.

Dr. Moti Ramgopal/Midway Immunology Research Center: If the hospitals benefit, who is going to lose? Is the physician going to lose? Is the patient going to lose? Ultimately we still need. There may be a system where everyone can win but there has to be a balance and right now the balance is shifting completely away from the physicians.

Many local physicians agree, the reform is driving physicians to work for hospital corporations. Instead of private practice. Hospitals and physicians both agree that until more is done to address other issues in the healthcare system, it wont lower costs for patients.

Thursday, June 28 2012, 08:23 PM EDT

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