January 16, 2003
AMBULANCE CHASER IN CHIEF:
Bush Pushes for Medical-Malpractice Caps (SCOTT LINDLAW, Jan 16, 2003, Associated Press)President Bush said Thursday his proposed nationwide ceilings on medical malpractice awards would drive down health care costs, but critics said he was siding with mismanaged insurance companies that pass inflated costs to patients.Bush dusted off a proposal he made in July to cap the pain and suffering portions of malpractice awards at $250,000.
Without the limit, Bush said, "excessive jury awards will continue to drive up insurance costs, will put good doctors out of business or run them out of your community and will hurt communities like Scranton, Pa. That's a fact."
Legislation he backed last year was approved in the House but was never brought for a vote in the Democratic-led Senate. Now the Republican Party controls both houses of Congress, and for the second time this week Bush revived a proposal that died last year. The other was welfare reform.
"The problem of those unnecessary costs don't start in the waiting room or the operating room. They're in the courtroom," Bush said. "Everybody's suing, it seems like. There are too many lawsuits in America, and there are too many lawsuits filed against doctors and hospitals without merit."
This is a worthwhile effort anyway, with this bonus, Edwards slams malpractice proposal...Bush plan would benefit insurance industry, not patients, N.C. senator says (JOHN WAGNER, , 1/16/03, News & Observer)
The politics of the issue are tricky for Edwards, a former trial lawyer whose specialties included malpractice cases and who is seeking the presidency.
You can pretty much reduce the Edwards' campaign to a defense of his own profession. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 16, 2003 7:46 PM
It's my profession too, and I won't completely defend it. The whole thing is a shoddy mess -- avaricious lawyers, sue-happy clients, doctors whose abilities are beyond poor, and insurance companies that can't figure out if they want to hardball or settle right away, let alone how much to charge doctors and how to spread risk. Some clients are badly, badly injured, through the fault of a doctor or doctors, and the lawyer is just vindicating justice. (Trust me -- I can tell you stories that would break your heart. They broke mine.) But at least some of the fault lies in the system.
I don't like the cap on physical damages, because the cost of medical care for those injured by a screwy doctor is going up just like everyone else's. And believe me, in a couple of cases I know about, the cap would've meant a death sentence for the client.
I have no problem capping punitives, though, especially if someone develops a way to vet and toss bad doctors. My wife suggests a 3-in-10 rule: You're found liable three times in a ten year span, you lose your license, and/or *cannot* apply for insurance.
One of the Wife's friends is an ob-gyn in WV and the malpractice bill is multiple hundreds of thousand of dollrs. Any child born with a defect tiggers a lawsuit.
Posted by: oj at January 18, 2003 9:54 AMWest Virginia, though, is a plaintiff's heaven. So are Beaumont and Galveston; South Florida; Mississippi; San Fran; Madison; Ann Arbor; and a few other spots of which I admittedly know little. (Point is, I don't know that it's a great example for large analysis.)
Like I said, I don't disagree that the system needs reforming. I'm scared that my family's gonna lose our family pracs (two of whom also do OB-GYN) because of a silly med mal suit or twelve. But I also know how many cruddy docs hang on forever, with privileges, and do so much harm over time.
How about doing something about careless doctors to begin with? If they weren't injuring people to begin with, would there still be anything to talk about? Perhaps state medical boards and hospital review committees could start doing their jobs?
Adam Studnicki
Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Studnicki, Jaffe & Woods, PLLC
http://www.sjwlawyers.com