Medical liability reforms are fair and much needed
Regarding Senate Bill 33 and medical liability reforms:
Much debate has taken place over medical liability reform legislation in the North Carolina General Assembly. As a physician, I am grateful for the support of Rep. Fred Steen (R-Rowan) who understands the need for reform to ensure access to health care for all North Carolinians.
I support Senate Bill 33 because it will help to reduce the need for defensive medicine, lower health care costs and expand patientsí access to health care, especially in underserved rural areas, small towns and poor urban centers. Under our current tort system, physicians and other health care providers feel compelled to practice defensive medicine, which drives up the cost of health care and affects taxpayers and patients alike.
Having practiced medicine for more than 30 years, I know that patients can be hurt by mistakes. We are all human, and when honest mistakes happen, patients should be compensated fairly. Senate Bill 33 ensures that injured patients be paid every penny of their present and future medical expenses, as well as all losses of future income and the value of future work.
It also would provide up to $500,000 in ěnon-economic damagesî for subjective, unquantifiable harms such as pain and suffering. The amount would be subject to periodic adjustment for inflation. Such caps have been adopted in more than half of the states, many at the lower threshold of $250,000.
By enacting strong, sensible liability reform, we can help to control health care costs and assure patients they will have access to the care they need. Without such reform, we face uncertainty and the likelihood of changes that could impede access to care and cloud the future of medicine in North Carolina.
ó John B. Kribbs, MD
Salisbury
Kribbs is president of the Rowan County Medical Society and a member of the N.C. Medical Society.
Recycling containers too small
Tomorrow is recycling pickup for our neighborood, and as I contemplate our pitiful small blue, container I cannot help but wonder when Salisbury is going to join the 21st century and start using the bigger recycling cans, the ones with a cover. They are so much more practical on windy days and would allow pickup every other week rather than weekly. They really are cleaner looking, hold more papers and plastics etc. and would prevent some of those materials from falling out and littering the streets. Think about it.
It really is a more practical idea … a more logical one.
ó Annick Nurisso
Salisbury
The rosary isnít ëjewelryí
The issues I am focusing on are the Rosary and the Roman Catholic church. I am a part of the Catholic community. The big thing I am bothered by is that kids everywhere are starting to wear the rosary as a necklace.
Kids do not know what the rosary is really used for. Catholics use the rosary to pray and worship God, not to have ěswagger.î If there were more Catholic churches in Rowan County, people could learn more about the rosary and what it is really used for. Every bead on the rosary represents a prayer. For each of the smaller beads, a Hail Mary is said. Each decade of the rosary has 10 of these beads. Each larger bead between each decade is an Our Father. The three at the end before the crucifix are Hail Maryís and the larger one is a Glory Be.
People do not understand much about the Catholic religion, just as I do not know anything about Southern Baptists. You are not supposed to wear the rosary, but if you do wear it, you can at least know what it means and what each bead stands for.
When people wear the rosary, it really offends me. In my opinion, the rosary is a Catholic symbol and should be used for prayer, not as jewelry. I hardly know anyone that knows anything about Catholicism other than Catholics. Therefore, I think that if people knew more about the rosary, it would help spread better understanding of Catholicism around Rowan County, the United States and the world.
ó Mackie Gallagher
Salisbury