Bush: $250,000 Cap Needed For Medical Malpractice Suits

CNSNEWS.com ^ | 1/16/03 | Christine Hall

[kattracks]

1st Add: Includes comments from Alliance of American Insurers)

(CNSNews.com) - President Bush on Thursday called for Congress to pass a law limiting non-economic, punitive damages in medical malpractice suits to $250,000.

"Our medical liability system is broken," the president told a Scranton, Pa. audience.

"A broken system like that first and foremost hurts the patients and the people of America," said Bush, because "junk lawsuits" drive up malpractice insurance premiums and drive innocent doctors out of town, according to the president.

Non-economic damages include jury awards for "pain and suffering," while punitive damages are imposed as a way of punishing a defendant. Defendants can be required to pay non-economic and punitive damages on top of damages for loss of pay, medical expenses and other costs connected to a plaintiff's injury.

\li30\sb30 President Bush's plan would cap recoveries for non-economic damages; reserve punitive damages for cases where they are justified; provide for payments of judgments over time rather than in a single, lump sum; ensure that old cases could not be brought years after an event; reduce the amount doctors must pay if a plaintiff has received other payments from an insurer to compensate for their losses; and would provide that defendants pay judgments in proportion to their fault.

In the American legal system, laws governing civil disputes are usually decided by state legislatures, but Bush said this time the federal government needs to intervene.

"It is a national problem that needs a national solution," said Bush, because the direct cost of malpractice insurance and defensive medicine raises health care costs paid by the federal government though Medicare, Medicaid, veterans' health care and health care afforded to government employees.

The House passed a medical malpractice bill last year but the measure stalled in the Senate. Bush acknowledged that the Senate remains the major stumbling block to reform and urged citizens to lobby their home state senators on the need for damage caps.

The insurance industry is pushing Congress to pass legislation this year.
Rodger S. Lawson, president of the Alliance of American Insurers, urged Congress to enact medical malpractice liability reforms to reduce the number and size of malpractice claims.

\li30\sb30 Lawson called the president's plan a "solid step forward for the American health care system and the American economy."

"Reforming the medical malpractice system is critical, because the rising costs of health care are borne by numerous insurance lines: workers' compensation, automobile, homeowners, etc. All lines share some of the escalating costs," Lawson said. More to Follow...

See Earlier Stories:

New Year No Fun For Pennsylvania Doctors

Study: Fear of Litigation Has 'Stunning Impact' on Doctors, Health Care

[reformed_democrat]

The only thing capped would be for non-economic damages, i.e., "pain and suffering","loss of consortium", "mental anguish", etc.

Try getting the media to define "punitive." Come to think of it, try getting a high school senior to define punitive. No one knows what it means, but if we cap it, we'll surely be doing the wrong thing.

If the media would use your phrase, non-economic damages, the public would have a much clearer understanding of what Bush is actually proposing.

[luckystarmom]

They say she is not disabled enough. She is not in a wheel-chair. She is not retarted. Her IQ is at 90 (my son's is over 130). They cannot prove that she won't go to college, but they can't say that she will go to college.

That's the big thing. If she was in a wheelchair, then they could go for lost wages.

Of course, we won't be able to prove anything about college by the time the statute of limitations runs out which is when she is 8.

[DAnconia55]

Your child's doctor comes to the operating suite while under the influence of prescription narcotics. Through ineptitude and while buzzed, he permanently paralyzes your child.

You find non-economic damages capped, and the ruination of lives, all so middle managers at the docs insurance company can get bigger annual bonuses and golf outings at nicer golf courses.

I guess it had to happen. I agree with your position...

[luckystarmom]

She is not in a wheel-chair. She can run, walk, ride a bike, swim like a regular 6 year old. She has severe speech problems, but at this time they don't know if she will be able to go to college or not. If she was in a wheel-chair we would have a case.

If she was mentally retarted, we would have a case. Her IQ is 90 (low average). Of course, my son's IQ is over 130.

There are also risks about who actually caused the damage. The neurologist can't agree. She is unusual. She has lots of damage and they don't know why she isn't in a wheel chair. They say that the insult that she had to her brain should have killed her, but it didn't. Every neurologist has a different opinion.

They just all agree the doctors screwed up 2 times, she had seizures as a result of the screw ups.

[luckystarmom]

I think the losers pay the lawyer's fees.

[luckystarmom]

If you can help me, please freep mail me. We could use some help right now.

It's a risky case, but we could really use the help. The last lawyer said that if she was in a wheel-chair it would be worth the risks. She isn't. She looks like a normal kid, but she has severe speech and learning problems.

[luckystarmom]

That's what's going in our daughter's case. Too much risk, and not enough reward. We can't find a lawyer.

[RJCogburn]

tort reform exists in the courts with judges and juries

In theory, perhaps. But judges are attorneys, part of the fraternity. Jurors are excluded from trials if deemed too intelligent, they say.

Too many lawyers, trying to make a living, digging up work. Check out the Yellow Pages.....many full page, sometimes double full page ads for attorneys. Why do you figure that is?

[luckystarmom]

It is not bogus. The doctor's offices (and hospitals) have lots of little bottles of glucose water.

I'll freepmail you details if you like.

Pedialyte can be purchased, and we did purchase it after we gave her a bottle of the glucose water. It was a nurse practioner that saw her, and not the doctor. I don't think any doctor would have sent us home with glucose water. Unfortunately, she threw up the pedialyte, so the on-call nurse said to give her more glucose water. They should not have sent us home with the glucose water, or told us to give her more.

She was only 7 1/2 pounds and 6 weeks old. She was born 4 weeks early because she was a twin. She was running a fever, she was congested and having breathing problems, and she was vomitting. She should have been put in the hospital to run tests, and they didn't do that. It was a few days before Christmas in 1996, and I think most of the doctors just were too busy with holiday preparations.

[luckystarmom]

She threw up the pedialyte we gave her. There is a lot more to this.

The problem is trying to prove if she will have lost wages or not. She is not disabled enough. She's not severely retarted, and she is not in a wheel-chair.

[Myrddin]

I recently spoke with an anaesthesiologist about malpractice insurance. It cost him $5,000 in 2002 and the rate was going to $12,000 in 2003. The OB/GYN and neurosurgeons were paying $90,000 in 2002. In 2003, the amount is $120,000. I work with an MD who threw in the towel because of high malpractice rates. I saw this disaster in the making in 1976. I had just graduated from UCSD at age 19 with the intent of pursuing medical school. I opted for a different career path.

The lawyers have made the medical profession unattractive. Practicing doctors are seeking alternative employment. Tort reform needs to be enacted before the medical profession pulls the "Atlas Shrugged" routine en mass.

[Yeti]

You bring your sick/injured child to the emergency room, only to find the doors permanently shut because yet another hospital was closed due to outrageous malpractice awards chasing away doctors and bankrupting hospitals. Is that justice?

Yeah, uh-huh. That's the problem, that's what's going on.

I just keep seeing these hospitals and medical centers closing everywhere. It's an epidemic.

You know, the medical establishment seems to think health is very valuable. They demonstrate that by making huge sums of money practicing medicine and providing medical service.

And the insurance industry makes lots of money selling health insurance AND malpractice insurance. And when they sell you those health insurance policies, they really emphasize how important health is to you, and how your future hapiness depends on it, to the exclusion of everything else.

But when the doctors trash your health, suddenly they, the insurance companies and George Bush all agree that no physical affliction can diminish your hapiness to a degree worth more than $250,000.

An okay house. Or really nice car. Perhaps some good furniture and mediocre art for your house.

Hey, sorry about the wheelchair -- but don't worry, you'll get used to it.

[CA Conservative]

Dyslexic fingers - "acutal"=actual

[caisson71]

I deeply regret what has happened to your daughter and there may be no amount of money to make it right.

[farmguy]

How about setting a limit (say $250K). Anyone that wants more than that states that when they file.

If they make that statement then loser pays.

[panaxanax]

What do you expect when your audience is full of Doctors?

[Republic]

Cap lawyers' fees from these cases too.

AMEN!!!! Bout time lawyers faced the fire. These slimey money grubbing jerks (or those who knowingly defend liars and ask for irrational sums of money that end up hurting EVERYONE) need to have their tails cropped. Doctors have been their bread and butter - and the settling that is done to avoid the cost of courts is sad, pathetic and WRONG. Let's clean up this mess and demand that lawyers, also, learn to live within reasonable salaries and NOT, as usual, on jury LOTTERY giveaways.

[gunnedah]

The Demoncrats,who are owned by the trial lawyers are screaming their heads off about this. You already have caps on what you can sue a hospital for , why not this?
Also a point to ponder. Has anyone ever seen a lawyer advertising about suing other lawyers about malpractice or ineffective representation? Have you ever seen an add that says we will sue other lawyers for mal-practice and no fee if no recovery, like they do against insurance companies and others.This happens to clients all the time but lawyers who have total control of the legal system and cover their own.There are numerous cases overturned every year for ineffective representation but no suits brought.
The ABA or for that matter any bar association covers each other and it is high time the legal system is addressed because it is a monoply and we have no recourse about it.
What about courts that issue opinions that the Supreme Court over turns and a person has spent years trying to be heard and lawyers and Judges covering for each other have
stopped them. We need a checks and balance system against lawyers that is not controlled by other lawyers.

[Imal]

I don't know which impresses me more: that there are so many attorneys on FR, or the fact that they almost invariably speak out so passionately in favor of bringing reason and decency to our legal system.

I've had the misfortune of needing an attorney more than once, and I have, without exception, been extremely pleased with the superior quality and professionalism of my counsel in each case. Maybe I'm just lucky, but the impression has stayed with me.

A bad lawyer hurts everyone. But a good lawyer is indispensable whe attempting to pursuce justice in court.

[The Irishman]

I'm sorry but I must say this, you are playing fast and loose with the truth. If you are a plaintiff's attorney as you say, you know that there are many cases settled for less than $50,000 because they are too expensive for the carrier to defend. Get down to the $10,000 figure and it's almost a "gimme".

This happens before any expert witnesses are required and before the plaintiff's lawyer has even spent much time on the case so that he has little or no money invested.

As an attorney, you know the truth of what I say. But what value has truth to an attorney. A famous quote attributed to a member of your profession is, "The truth has no place in a court of law."

Regards.