LETTERS
Victor Cohn's piece on "The Disgrace of American Health Care" {Cover Story, Jan. 24} did not mention a major factor in rising health care costs-the litigious atmosphere in which medicine is practiced today, coupled with astronomical awards in malpractice suits. His "Dr. Alarmist" would have a field day ordering tests-perhaps his patients would have benefited, but Dr. A. would then be armed for the almost inevitable confrontation of a malpractice suit.</br></br>Few responsible individuals in medicine, government or the legal profession deny that bad medicine is practiced; but advances in research have led Americans to deny that a "bad" result is possible.</br></br>Some states, such as California and Maryland, have already attempted to inject some common sense into the situation by capping "pain and suffering" awards, but the legal profession continues to tolerate members who demand settlements beyond believability. Locally, the result has been a sad drain of well qualified physicians to the suburbs, coupled with many simply retiring early and declining to put themselves in situations that can result in suits.</br></br>In your otherwise fine discussion of spiraling health care expenditures, you misuse the word "inflation," which refers to an increase in price unaccompanied by a commensurate increase in quality or quantity of goods or services.</br></br>When a nickel candy bar now costs 45 cents, that's inflation. When you buy a three-bedroom house inside the Beltway for $25,000 in 1960 and sell it for $250,000 today, that's inflation. When a Redskins ticket goes from $6 to $30 in a similar period . . . well, even though they win a few Super Bowls in the meantime, that's mostly inflation, too.