Dental clinic forced to pay up for lost teeth

Because this is a day that ends in 'y' and on which the sun rose in the east and set in the west, another story of our health care system's dire straits (not Dire Straits, but dire straits) has emerged.

This time, a South Carolina dental clinic extracted 13 teeth that were not supposed to be extracted from a 28-year-old woman. This left her with no upper teeth to speak of.

A jury awarded her $2,000,000 in the resulting lawsuit. From what I've read, she deserves every penny. An expert witness testified that the clinic even tried covering up its error by entering bogus information on the patient's charts.

For years, the Far Right's meme has been that there is no health care crisis - only a malpractice suit crisis. Judging by this story, however, it appears as if the malpractice suit system works reasonably well. It was the medical system that failed.

If the obstructionists on the right had their way, a lawsuit like this would be illegal. In fact, it probably already would be in some states, unfortunately - following the war on the working class in the '90s.

(Source: http://www.thestate.com/crime/story/905995.html)