Articles Posted in Tort Reform

Senators Clinton and Obama have written an article about the need for patient safety for the New England Journal of Medicine.

The opening paragraph: “We have visited doctors and hospitals throughout the country and heard firsthand from those who face ever-escalating insurance costs. Indeed, in some specialties, high premiums are forcing physicians to give up performing certain high-risk procedures, leaving patients without access to a full range of medical services. But we have also talked with families who have experienced errors in their care, and it has become clear to us that if we are to find a fair and equitable solution to this complex problem, all parties – physicians, hospitals, insurers, and patients – must work together. Instead of focusing on the few areas of intense disagreement, such as the possibility of mandating caps on the financial damages awarded to patients, we believe that the discussion should center on a more fundamental issue: the need to improve patient safety.”

The Senators propose to pass legistation to address this issue. According to the article, “[t]his legislation would create an Office of Patient Safety and Health Care Quality within the Department of Health and Human Services. The director of this office will be responsible for establishing a National Patient Safety Database, conducting data analyses to inform policy and practice recommendations, establishing and administering the National Medical Error Disclosure and Compensation (MEDiC) program, and supporting studies related to MEDiC and the medical liability system.”

Last week Tennessee’s health care industry tried to hijack the Governor’s Cover Tennessee bill in an effort to obtain caps on their liability. The effort failed, thanks to the efforts of the entire Democratic Caucus in the Senate, Chairpman Person (R-Memphis), Senator Williams, and others.

The industry worked to amend the Cover Tennessee bill on the floor to limit their responsibility after a jury determines that medical negligence occurred. Usually, measures of this type are brought up through the committee system and, in fact, a similar piece of legislation was defeated in a House subcommittee this year. But the doctors alone had spent no less than $500,000 this year to get the special treatment they think they deserve so they decided to use the Governor’s health care bill to get what they wanted.

What is even more interesting is that they denied doing it. Why would they deny responsibility for trying to limit their responsibility? Because it is considered bad manners on Capitol Hill to try to bypass the committee system. And because you don’t mess with the Governor’s legislation without risking his ire. So, when the health care industry decided to do so, I guess they decided it was best to lie about what they were doing.

The property and causalty insurance cycle, understood by everyone except some (but not all) Republican lawmakers, continues to turn.

Insurance company profits are swelling and insurance price increases have come to a virtual halt. Last year premiums rose an average of one-half of one percent and net income increased 12%, despite record catastrophe losses. Surpluses (think “net worth”) in the industry now exceed $427 Billion. The average rate of return on surplus was 10.5%.

This article tells us that one expert predicts that premium growth will slow in 2006 and, in fact, may be less than the rate of inflation. Insurers will have cut prices to maintain premium volume, which will cause underwriting losses. Some degree of underwriting losses are ok (last year the companies paid loss and loss adjustment expenses of $100.90 for every $100 in premium) so long as the companies can earn a decent rate of return on their investments. If they don’t, however, they have to raise rates to maintain profitability. Of course, the companies then will blame those increases on GREEDY TRIAL LAWYERS.

The Senate has just had the cloture vote on S.B. 22.

The result was 48 – 42 to continue debate. Sixty votes were required to cut off debate.

The fillibuster stands; debate continues.

2:17 P.M. Monday: Here is the link to the CSPAN site where you can watch the debate:

Debate

Senator Frist and his friends are back with another bill to restrict the rights of medical malpractice victims. Here is the bill, known as S.B. 22.

Expect a vote on cloture today or tomorrow.

The legislation includes caps on noneconomic damages, uniform statutes of limitations (except in states that have more pro-provider limits), expert witness rules, collateral source changes, and caps on attorneys’ fees. The bill also enhances Rule 11 sanctions in medical malpractice cases.

Joint and several liability has been abolished in the State of Florida. Here is a copy of the bill, courtesy of Matt at Abstract Appeal.

ATLA CEO Jon Haber’s Statement in Response to Bush’s Attacks Today on the Civil Justice System

(Washington, DC)-ATLA CEO Jon Haber issued the following statement in response to Bush’s attacks today on the civil justice system:

“It would take the President less than a minute to discover the number of physicians is on the rise, not declining, and that the reason for inflated malpractice insurance premiums is directly attributable to insurance industry greed. Bush carelessly throws around terms like ‘junk lawsuits.’ But the civil justice system he is attacking protects families who lose children as the result of medical negligence and patients who suffer devastating injuries — all of whom deserve accountability. So it appears the ‘plethora of lawsuits’ the President referred to must be buried out there somewhere with the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”

Lynn Swann, Republican candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, has called for tort reform. Read more here.

Yet another reason for me to dislike the Steelers (except the Bus – I think the Bus is fantastic.)

Thanks to Torts Prof Blog for bringing this article to my attention.

Texas passed damage caps and other legal “reform” measures and now people are starting to understand the harm that we predicted would occur.

This article explains the costs.

An excerpt: “But the reforms have exacted a high price, particularly among the very old and very young, patient advocates say. Because they can’t ask juries for large pain and suffering awards anymore, lawyers now look for cases in which a patient or survivors have suffered a large economic loss – generally, lost wages as a result of injury or death. Complex malpractice cases can cost $100,000 to prepare. If injured patients’ best earning days are behind them, or the patient is a child whose future income is impossible to predict, the potential rewards may be too small to make the case worth filing.”