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Special points of interest:
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Citizen Action at Work in Colorado
A movement in the Colorado House to dramatically raise the limits on awards in medical liability cases (as the Senate did earlier) has been temporarily halted, as the House committee hearing the bill delayed action after being flooded with calls and emails from Colorado citizens fearful that the move would imperil their access to care and drive up medical costs. Protect Patients Now – and the people of Colorado – want to thank those who responded to our email blast alerting our readers to the impending vote and used our website to send emails to their Colorado lawmakers. It is now more important than ever to keep up the pressure. To read a report on the vote, click here, and to add your voice to those who want to save reform in Colorado, click here.
Doctors Rally For Reform in New York
About 1,500 doctors in white coats rallied in Albany early this month to protest the growing patient access to care crisis in New York State, many carrying banners that said, “Enough is Enough.” The immediate cause of the protest was a proposed $50,000 physician surcharge, which may now be off the table, and an additional 15% to 20% annual hikes in medical liability insurance premiums.
Governor Spitzer addressed the crowd of doctors shortly before his scandal-induced departure from office promising to “alleviate the pain” and saying that he would soon announce a proposal to respond to the crisis. He did not promise, however, that his proposal would contain limits on non-economic damages, which is the only reform that has a proven track record for fixing the problem. Currently, there are only three companies offering medical liability insurance to physicians in New York State, and all three are insolvent.
You can read news reports on the doctors rally here and here.
Oregon Dodges a Bullet — Again
Late last month, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the statutory limits on non-economic damages. The plaintiff’s challenge to the limits had earlier been rejected by the Court of Appeals, which cited an earlier Supreme Court decision that was almost identical to this one when upholding the constitutionality of the limits. In other words, the personal injury attorneys, like the Terminator, will keep coming back until we pass liability reform at the federal level. For a report on the Oregon decision, read here.
Personal Injury Lawyers Up the Ante
Last month, Protect Patients Now reported on the case being brought in a Texas court challenging the constitutionality – vis-à-vis the Texas constitution – of that state’s law limiting non-economic damages in medical liability lawsuits. Personal injury attorneys have now upped the ante considerably, filing a class action suit in federal court in Marshall, Texas, saying that the law’s limits violate the U.S. constitution on four grounds: right to trial, due process, equal protection and right to petition. This is the first federal challenge to the Texas law, which was approved in 2003 when Texas voters passed Prop. 12 to amend the state constitution.
Jon Opelt, executive director of the Texas Alliance for Patient Access, which was at the forefront of movement to pass medical liability reform, called it “a Hail Mary” pass. But as he points out, those passes are sometimes caught. An adverse ruling in federal court would imperil every state reform with non-economic damage limits that is now in place throughout the nation.
Protect Patients Now will keep you informed about any and all developments in this case important to patients and physicians across the country. In the meantime, you can read more about this issue case here and here.
Thirty-eight Million Dollars
That’s the size of a recent medical liability award in Connecticut after the verdict against a Harvard-trained obstetrician. Connecticut obstetricians have already seen their average premium explode from $63,000 in 2000 to $170,000 today. According to Leonard Ferrucci, a Stamford obstetrician and chairman of legislative committee of the Fairfield Medical Association, 15% of the Connecticut’s obstetricians already fled the state between 2002 and 2004. And the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) was describing Connecticut as state in which a “crisis is brewing” back in 2004. With verdicts like this, it looks like it may soon be boiling over. You can read more about the verdict here.
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