ATRA CALLS FOR 'REASONABLE LIMITS' ON MEDICAL LIABILITY

Says Threat of Lawsuits Is Reflected in Costs of ‘Defensive Medicine,’ Shortage of Doctors

Washington, DC, June 22, 2009 -- With trial lawyer-friendly congressional majorities in a position to control debate on potentially sweeping health care legislation and ABC Television set to broadcast the president’s views live from the White House Wednesday night, an American Tort Reform Association letter to the editor in Sunday’s Washington Post and statements by its president and board chairman today urge policymakers to include limits on medical liability in any final bill.

ATRA's letter in The Post referenced statistics from recent studies to show that nearly 40 percent of medical malpractice lawsuits are “without merit,” and that the costs of “defensive medicine” as practiced by many physicians to avoid lawsuits are higher than many analysts suggest. So, “If any health-care reforms are to succeed,” the letter stated, “they must be buttressed by liability reform.”

ATRA president Tiger Joyce today added that “the threat of meritless lawsuits is also contributing considerably to current and future shortages of physicians,” noting an article in Saturday’s edition of The Post (“Primary-Care Doctor Shortage May Undermine Reform Efforts”).

“Personal injury lawyers often operate on a contingency fee basis, so reasonable limits on non-economic damages have worked in 25 states to dampen lawyers’ enthusiasm for pursuing lawsuits that should never be filed in the first place,” explained Ed Murnane, ATRA chairman and president of the Illinois Civil Justice League.

“As has been the case in California, Illinois, Texas, West Virginia and other states that have limited awards for impossible-to-quantify noneconomic damages, doctors’ insurance premiums have come down. Critical shortages of doctors have been alleviated in some states, as well,” Murnane continued. “In fact, Texas’s medical licensing agency now has a backlog of applications from physicians seeking to flee high-litigation states such as New Jersey and New York.”

“ATRA implores President Obama to reconsider his recently stated opposition to reasonable limits on non-economic damages in medical liability litigation,” Joyce said, “and we urge both the White House and Congress to consider additional liability reforms, such as medical courts, administrative compensation programs, ‘early offers,’ and ‘safe harbors’ for physicians who practice in compliance with evidenced-based clinical guidelines.

“Certainly real victims of negligence must be fairly compensated, but public policy must discourage litigation that abuses our civil justice system while making health care more expensive and less accessible,” concluded Joyce.

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The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to tort and liability reform through public education and the enactment of legislation. ATRA's membership includes non profits, small and large companies, as well as state and national trade, business, and professional associations.