Jan. 16
— By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hoping to take advantage of Republicans' new
control of both houses of Congress, President Bush will offer on
Thursday a limit of $250,000 in damage awards for medical malpractice
lawsuits.
Amid growing protests from doctors that malpractice insurance
premiums are pricing them out of their profession, Bush will make his
announcement during a visit to Scranton, Pennsylvania. He will contend
that frivolous lawsuits are driving up health care costs.
Aides said Bush would propose a limit of $250,000 in noneconomic
damage awards -- most for "pain and suffering" -- and an undefined,
"reasonable" cap for punitive damages for medical malpractice lawsuits.
He made a similar proposal in July when the Senate was still under
Democratic control and it died of inaction.
But with the Senate now controlled by his Republican Party, Bush
hopes to make progress on what the White House considers a major
legislative agenda item for this year.
The issue of capping medical malpractice awards has been discussed in
Congress for years, prompted by anger over multimillion-dollar awards
that emerge from jury trials. Democrats, who typically receive campaign
contributions from trial lawyers, oppose caps, while Republicans, more
likely to get financial help from insurance companies, largely favor
them.
Four Democratic senators wrote a letter to Bush on Wednesday opposing
his proposal, saying it would deprive seriously injured patients of fair
compensation, and do nothing to guarantee doctors could obtain
malpractice insurance at a fair price.
"The real beneficiaries of these proposals would be insurance
companies, not patients and not doctors," they said.
The four were Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Patrick Leahy of
Vermont, Richard Durbin of Illinois and John Edwards of North Carolina.
Edwards, who made millions as a trial lawyer, is running for the
Democratic nomination to oppose Bush in the 2004 presidential race.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed legislation
in September similar to what Bush has proposed with the backing of
doctors and business groups that argue such caps would help hold down
health costs and prevent doctors from abandoning high-risk practices.
Three consumer groups said they would protest Bush's appearance: The
Center for Justice & Democracy, Pennsylvania's Citizens for Consumer
Justice and California's Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.
The American Medical Association, which represents nearly 300,000
doctors, has called medical liability its top legislative priority,
saying in some states the liability issue has resulted in doctor
shortages that have left some residents without easy access to care.
photo credit and caption:
President George W. Bush discusses
Medical Liability Reform while at the University of Scranton in
Scranton, Pennsylvania, January 16, 2003. Bush, complaining that
doctors and hospitals were subjected to unfair medical malpractice
lawsuits that resembled a "giant lottery," proposed a $250,000 limit
on damage awards. "It is a national problem that needs a national
solution," Bush told a cheering crowd. Photo by Larry
Downing/Reuters
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