Radical Idea:
Let You And Me Sign Contracts
The law will not let you sign a contract.
Did you know that?
OK, full story: you can’t sign a contract that waives certain protections.
Well, you can sign it but the courts won’t honor it. In their eyes you are a child – you’re incapable of looking out for yourself.
That’s an affront of course. Really, an insult to your status as a competent adult.
But it’s worse than that. It costs you.
It costs you money and it costs you in reduced quality of services.
For starters let’s look at your healthcare. Suppose your doctor knows of a promising treatment for a serious condition of yours. But the treatment comes with some significant risks.
Your doctor would like to give you the whole story and let you decide – but he knows that his liability insurer wouldn’t hear of it.
Instead your doctor orders a bunch of costly and useless tests just as a CYA measure – covering his behind, because he knows that if he doesn’t paper your case with test results and something goes wrong, some lawyer is going to try
to find him negligent. Even if he wins the case, he loses. His malpractice premiums will go up, his reputation will be tainted – and it will have cost a lot of time and energy.
There’s also the very significant cost of loss of trust. Can you expect the very best quality of care when your doctor’s focus on your condition is distracted by thoughts of litigation avoidance?
Now suppose you wanted to tell your doctor: “I want to make my own decision about this treatment. I understand there’s a risk of a bad outcome, so let me sign a release that removes your liability for this procedure"
As it stands now, your doctor and her lawyer know that the release will have no legal bearing. It’s totally without effect. The law says you’re not capable of making the decision. Because in the eyes of the law you are a child.
By the way, have you ever thought about who pays those malpractice insurance premiums? Why, you do of course! They’re a big part of today's astronomical and rising cost of healthcare.
Healthcare costs are skyrocketing. Extraneous CYA tests, extra procedures, and malpractice insurance premiums are a big part of the problem.
Imagine for a moment if people were allowed to absolve their doctors of liability. The result would be straight talk about risks and no more useless CYA tests.
One simple measure would help slow that trend. And it’s built on an already established, tested, and very effective legal procedure.
It’s called emancipation.
Here’s how emancipation works today: if a minor, say a sixteen year old, has no parents or guardians to make legal commitments on her behalf, she goes before a judge, explains her situation, and answers a few questions to demonstrate
that she can handle her affairs. The judge then issues an order of emancipation, making her an adult for most legal purposes.
[New Hampshire bill xxxxx] institutes a similar process for adults. You’ll go before a judge, declare your desire to be emancipated, and answer some questions demonstrating that you’re competent to make your own decisions.
Even if you do get that emancipation order, there’s nothing saying you have to sign any waiver or other contract. It’s still up to you.
The bill also prohibits a healthcare provider from asking you to sign a waiver. You’ll have to be the one to suggest it.
Join us! Add your name and email address below, letting the New Hampshire legislature know that you want your opportunity to actually make decisions
Read the full text of the bill here. It’s very simple. It says that laws designed to protect an individual from himself or herself are void in the case of adults who have been granted an order of emancipation, with a very few exceptions.
For example, you still can’t try to row across the Atlantic in a dinghy, causing rescuers put their own lives at risk to save yours.
It means that you can actually sign a contract!
