Act before tort crisis spreads

As the medical liability crisis grows, it's time for the Senate to pass tort reform.

Editorial. April 21, 2003.

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And now there are only six left unscathed. The fast-moving medical liability crisis that has engulfed this country has infected every state in the nation except for California, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, New Mexico and Wisconsin.

That's the latest word from the American Medical Association, which recently added more states to the 12 it labeled "in crisis" when it put out its first liability map in June 2002, for a total of 18. The District of Columbia and 26 other states are also now showing problem signs that over time could push them into the crisis column.

With this article   Topic: Liability crisis

The U.S. House of Representatives indicated in early March that it feels physicians' pain as well as understands the problem for what it truly is -- a threat to patient access to care and a $50 billion defensive-medicine burden.

Representatives voted largely along party lines -- Republicans in favor -- for a bill that imposes a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages, holds physicians responsible for only their part of the damages, imposes a three-year statute on limitations on most medical malpractice cases and limits punitive damages to two times the economic damages or $250,000, whichever is greater.

President Bush has signaled support for the measure. It was a welcome news to a medical community that must now push harder than ever for Senate approval.

Last year the House passed a tort reform measure as well, only to watch it stall and then die in the U.S. Senate. Early indications are the bill again faces a tough Senate crowd. Democratic support of the House legislation in its current form continues to appear unlikely.

Yet a quickly withdrawn compromise package, tendered by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D, Calif.), may offer at least some glimmer of hope.

Could it be a signal that senators on her side of the aisle are finally waking up to both the problem, as well as the fact that a solid majority of voters are comfortable with the liability caps that are the cornerstone of effective reforms? (Legislators in the unscathed six states understand this and have enacted tort reform.)

Let's hope so. A third of the states are in crisis. Another half are vulnerable to slipping over the line. Both physicians and a vast majority of patients alike are losing out to a tort system only a lawyer could love. What will it take for the Senate to act?

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Copyright 2003 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.