Medical malpractice news

2010-03-29T06:19:00.003-04:00

We discontinued our early morning monitoring of medical malpractice news due to the loss of a client who was interested in this topic. If anyone has a need for this information, please contact Ken Robinson at krobinson@robinsonstrategies.com

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2010-03-01T00:26:00.001-05:00

Editorial: Health care summit ambiguous at best
Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, NH - Feb 28, 2010
...On tort reform, the GOP had previously sounded weak. On the surface tort reform would only shave a few percentage points off health care costs. But what became apparent Thursday was the impact medical malpractice lawsuits have on forcing defensive medicine...

Editorial: Take the next step
The Times of Trenton, NJ - Feb 28, 2010
...And it's about time Democrats consider reasonable limits to medical malpractice awards as well as selling insurance across state lines...

Opinion - Michael Smerconish: Head strong: Medical profession must police itself better
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Feb 28, 2010
...lost in the demonization of trial lawyers for political points is the medical community's inability to cut costs by cutting loose the malpractitioners among them...

Despite long odds, Dems push ahead with health care
The Times Herald, Norristown, PA (Associated Press) - Feb 27, 2010
...Obama, who will first discuss the strategy with Democratic congressional leaders, said at Thursday’s bipartisan marathon that he is open to several Republican ideas, including medical malpractice changes...

Dems take a second look at GOP proposals, including tort reform
The Hill, Washington, DC - Feb 27, 2010
...This has given an opening to centrist Democrats who want to take on trial lawyers by reforming medical malpractice law. These centrists say that Republican policy makers have made a strong case for lawsuit reform and it would be in the best interests of healthcare reform to meet them part-way...

Editorial: Obama takes wise steps toward vital health-care deal
Poughkeepsie Journal, NY - Feb 27, 2010
...Instead, they should incorporate some of the Republican ideas that would help keep health-care costs down in general. They include placing limits on medical malpractice liability and ensuring that certain states don't get sweetheart deals to curry favor and gain the support of Democratic senators who might not support a final measure otherwise...

Medical malpractice sector to soften in 2010: Report
Business Insurance, New York, NY - Feb 26, 2010
The medical malpractice insurance market is expected to soften in 2010, though some medical malpractice insurers could still be profitable this year, according to a report released Friday by Standard & Poor’s Corp...

2010-02-26T07:20:00.002-05:00

President, Republicans clash at health-care summit
Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, Manitowoc, WI (Associated Press) - Feb 26, 2010
...Any skepticism about reaching broad consensus was vindicated as soon as the first Republican spoke — in opposition to the mammoth bills that have passed the House and Senate. Alexander, of Tennessee, said Congress and the administration should start over and take small steps, including medical malpractice reform...

No clear winner in seven-hour gabfest
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA (Politico) - Feb 26, 2010
...Why can't we do something about the biggest cost driver, which is medical malpractice and the defensive medicine that doctors practice? Let's start with a clean sheet of paper where we can actually get somewhere and we can get it into law here in the next several months," Boehner said...

Health summit shows divergent views
USA Today - Feb 26, 2010
...Obama: "I've already said that I think this is a real issue. I disagree with John Boehner. John, when you say that it is the single biggest driver of medical inflation, that is just not the case."...

In gamble, Obama and Dems prepare to ram health care through
Fox News (Associated Press) - Feb 26, 2010
...Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who has a track record of working across the political aisle, said he would try to broaden common ground. Obama said he was willing to incorporate medical malpractice changes into his plan...

Health summit is a failure as President Obama vows to move forward on reform
New York Daily News, NY - Feb 26, 2010
...Obama insisted that he heard some GOP ideas - such as on medical malpractice reform - that he might be able to embrace. But he was adamant he won't return to the drawing board...

Factbox: Areas of agreement, disagreement at health summit
Post Chronicle, Denville, NJ - Feb 26, 2010
...* Republicans said Democrats were only "paying lip service" to medical malpractice reform. * Democrats said placing caps on non-economic awards was not the answer and argued in favor of incentives to states to reduce the need for lawsuits...

Fact check: Dueling polls and dubious stats
Forbes.com (Associated Press) - Feb 26, 2010
...The Congressional Budget Office estimated the government could save $41 billion over 10 years by capping jury awards in medical malpractice lawsuits - an idea promoted by Republicans but opposed by trial lawyers...

Malpractice liability a hot topic at health care summit
Law.com - Feb 26, 2010
Thursday's televised "summit" on health care proved to be a new forum in which Republican lawmakers could press again for limits on medical malpractice awards, and another opportunity for the plaintiffs bar to play defense...

Race to pin blame for high health-care costs
Wall Street Journal, NY - Feb 26, 2010
...And doctors say they are strong-armed by insurance monopolies and hampered by medical malpractice costs. In the rush to point fingers, few solutions are emerging...

Editorial: What's next for ObamaCare?
Santa Cruz Sentinel, CA - Feb 26, 2010
...But will the president take a smaller plan and be able to count it a political success? One signal that he might came during Thursday's session when Obama said he wants to change how the United States deals with medical malpractice lawsuits -- long a Republican argument for why health care is so expensive...

Editorial: No cure in sight: White House summit failed to move the ball on health care bill
New York Daily News, Feb 26, 2010
...Channel whatever bipartisan energy there is on Capitol Hill into three bills, four bills, five bills - manageable and understandable pieces of legislation that build on shared ideas like selling insurance across state lines, improving preventive care, attacking medical malpractice lawsuits and giving health care consumers a much greater role in decision-making...

Will the summit impact health reform?
CBS News - Feb 25, 2010
...But there's one big Republican priority that's not in the plan - major medical malpractice reform...

Obama open to curbing medical malpractice suits
BusinessWeek (Associated Press) - Feb 25, 2010
President Barack Obama says he wants to change how the United States deals with medical malpractice lawsuits, although he says Republicans are overstating its effects on the health care system...

Opinion - Katie Connolly: Health-care summit: The most fascinating boring day ever
Newsweek - Feb 25, 2010
...Perhaps the only issue where there was some meaningful movement was tort reform: despite Dick Durbin's eloquent takedown of caps on payouts, Obama believes Republicans have some good ideas and will instruct Democrats to work on them...

2010-02-25T08:28:00.002-05:00

Q+A: What's the point of Obama's healthcare summit?
Reuters - Feb 25, 2010
...They want a simpler, less costly step-by-step approach that would limit medical malpractice lawsuits, allow small businesses to form health insurance groups and permit insurers to sell policies across state lines...

Obama's health talks will underscore party divisions
BusinessWeek - Feb 25, 2010
...Obama and his fellow Democrats plan an increase in government assistance; Republicans more often bring up the need to limit medical malpractice lawsuits...

Editorial: Enough talk; pass a health reform bill
The Milford Daily News, Milford, MA - Feb 25, 2010
...We'd be happy to see malpractice reform and some expansion of health insurance competition across state lines...

Editorial: Health care: Doing nothing not an option
The Charlotte Observer, NC - Feb 25, 2010
..."End junk lawsuits"? It encourages states to develop new malpractice systems. (The cost of malpractice lawsuits themselves, including legal fees, insurance costs and payouts, amounts to less than half of 1 percent of health-care spending.)...

Opinion - John F. Cogan, Glenn Hubbard, and Daniel Kessler: A better way to reform health care
Wall Street Journal, New York, NY - Feb 25, 2010
...Three policy changes will go a long way to achieving these objectives: (1) eliminate the tax code's bias that favors health insurance over out-of-pocket spending; (2) remove state-government barriers to purchasing and providing health services; and (3) reform medical malpractice laws...

Opinion - Stephen C. Schimpff: Beyond health care 'rights'
Baltimore Sun, MD - Feb 25, 2010
...Doctors who want malpractice reform (a right) need to do their part to markedly improve patient safety (a responsibility). In this model, both doctor and payer/patient have their rights and their responsibilities - resulting in better care, healthier patients, less-stressed physicians and reduced total costs to the system...

Opinion - Arnold 'Duke' Livermore: The problem: Cost control, not insurers
News-Journal, Daytona Beach, FL - Feb 25, 2010
...Second, our current malpractice system is another significant contributor of unnecessary costs. Additional regulation in this area, including the establishment of Health Courts, could eliminate the waste caused by defensive medicine ...

Preparing for a health debate, and for its TV audience
New York Times, NY - Feb 24, 2010
...One way Mr. Obama could throw Republicans off stride would be to make a bold opening offer to embrace one of their health care priorities, like limitingmedical malpractice lawsuits — an idea one Democrat close to the White House said had been under consideration...

ProAssurance profits up 25% in '09
Birmingham Business Journal, AL - Feb 24, 2010
...The Birmingham-based medical malpractice insurer posted $222 million in net income for the year ended Dec. 31...

House okays repeal of health insurers' antitrust exemption
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Feb 24, 2010
...Approval for the “Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act” came on a 406-19 vote. The measure did not repeal the antitrust exemption for medical malpractice insurers...

US House slaps antitrust law on health insurers
Reuters - Feb 24, 2010
...The Senate Judiciary Committee's version of the legislation is narrower in some ways than the House version, although the Senate bill also strips medical malpractice insurers of their antitrust exemption. Obama has said that he would sign the repeal into law...

2010-02-24T08:00:00.002-05:00

Stage set for healthcare political drama
Washington Post, DC - Feb 24, 2010
...Republicans demand Democrats abandon their broad proposals for a simpler, less costly, step-by step approach that would limit medical malpractice lawsuits, allow small businesses to form health insurance groups and permit insurers to sell policies across state lines...

G.O.P. expects little from Obama's health forum
New York Times, NY - Feb 24, 2010
...The proposal that House Republicans will carry into the meeting with Mr. Obama would encourage small businesses to band together to buy insurance; would give federal money to states to run high-risk pools for people who cannot obtain private insurance; and would limit damages in medical malpractice lawsuits...

Health bill faces big hurdles in House
Wall Street Journal, New York, NY - Feb 24, 2010
...Instead of passing a sweeping bill, Republicans say Congress should pass incremental legislation to curb medical malpractice lawsuits, allow insurers to sell policies across state lines and create high-risk pools for sick consumers to obtain coverage...

Medical malpractice back on the table?
The Omaha World-Herald, NE (Associated Press) - Feb 24, 2010
...Studies have found that capping malpractice damage awards and making other changes would help reduce overall health care spending nationally. But it’s no magic bullet: Estimates on the size of that reduction vary from a minimal one to, in a perfect world, maybe 10 percent of overall health spending...

Editorial: Things to do quickly
The Providence Journal, RI - Feb 24, 2010
...For example, Democrats could adopt some of the GOP’s better ideas, such as reforming America’s medical-malpractice laws. Doctors prescribe much unnecessary testing as protection against malpractice suits...

Editorial: The first four steps
The Boston Globe, MA - Feb 24, 2010
...Fourth, Congress must reform the medical malpractice system. The only winners in the current system are the plaintiffs’ lawyers...

Opinion - Larry McNeely and Mike Russo: Healthcare reform, not political theater
Los Angeles Times, CA - Feb 24, 2010
...Gregg would pay for his plan by having Medicare beneficiaries pay for more of their care, and by taxing healthcare benefits above $11,500 a year for families and $5,000 for individuals. He sees medical malpractice reform as central to containing healthcare costs...

For healthcare summit planners, it's the furniture, stupid!
Baltimore Sun, MD - Feb 23, 2010
...One issue they expect to come up is medical malpractice. Republicans want to see cutbacks in litigation and damages, while Democrats are reluctant to offend trial lawyers who are a major source of campaign money and political support...

Newspapers grade latest Obama health plan
Dallas Morning News, TX - Feb 23, 2010
...Or he could have borrowed their ideas on how to curb unwarranted lawsuits and excessive medical malpractice awards...

Illinois urges continued competition, lower rates in medical liability line
Insurance Journal, San Diego, CA - Feb 23, 2010
The Illinois Department of Insurance reported it has observed increased competition and 10 percent decrease in premium paid in the medical malpractice line of insurance since reforms were enacted in 2005...

2010-02-23T07:22:00.002-05:00

Obama presents health care plan
The Boston Globe, MA - Feb 23, 2010
...It does not, however, include some of the GOP’s most sought-after goals, such as caps on medical malpractice lawsuits...

Obama renews health push
Wall Street Journal, New York, NY - Feb 23, 2010
...Republicans are expected to call at the summit for more targeted legislation that curbs malpractice lawsuits, creates high-risk insurance pools for sick people and allows consumers to purchase insurance across state lines...

Obama's health care plan raises stakes ahead of summit
TIME - Feb 23, 2010
...the White House was also communicating that Democrats have already adopted all their favorite Republican ideas and won't be adding any major new ones to their reform legislation. (One possible exception is medical-malpractice reform...

Boehner shoots down new health-care proposal
The Columbus Dispatch, OH - Feb 23, 2010
...For more than a year, Boehner and his GOP colleagues have backed plans to limit financial damages from medical-malpractice lawsuits and allow smaller companies to band together to find less-expensive policies...

Editorial: The health care debate: Politics as usual
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA - Feb 23, 2010
...Oh, the session could have some substance -- if Democrats for once considered the opposition's focus on the primary drivers of health-care costs, such as malpractice insurance...

Opinion - Tim Pawlenty: 5 steps to health care reform
Union Leader, Manchester, NH - Feb 22, 2010
...At a minimum, we should establish uniform standards for medical liability limits to discourage interstate jury shopping that drives up everybody’s health-care costs...

Calif. tort reform bills face certain death, observers say
LegalNewsline, Chicago, IL - Feb 23, 2010
..."Tort reform legislation would take a special session in this state, similar to energy deregulation and workers' comp. reform, in order to create the focus needed to get something done," she said...

House Democrats seek to revoke insurers' antitrust exemption
BusinessWeek (Bloomberg) - Feb 22, 2010
...House Democrats agreed to exclude medical malpractice insurers from legislation that would apply antitrust laws to health insurance companies, clearing the way for a vote on the measure this week...

Medical malpractice excluded from McCarran-Ferguson legislation
Insurance Journal, San Diego, CA - Feb 22, 2010
...Recently proposed free-standing legislation introduced by Reps. Perriello and Markey to amend the McCarran-Ferguson Act for health insurers will no longer include a provision that would impact medical professional liability insurance, according to trade groups representing property/casualty insurers...

Illinois med-mal ruling to boost insurers' costs 18%: study
Crain's Chicago Business, IL - Feb 22, 2010
...The consulting firm said the recent removal of caps on malpractice awards would lead to higher costs per malpractice claim, on average. The number of people suing their doctors also is likely to rise, the firm said...

2010-02-22T07:43:00.002-05:00

Bipartisan health care summit: A meeting for 'show'?
Fox News - Feb 22, 2010
...It is like Republicans saying unless medical malpractice is part of this, we're not go that talk. If both sides go in with preconditions, then that's not what the American people want here...

Doctors: 21 percent of medicine defensive
United Press International - Feb 22, 2010
Physicians who say they practice defensive medicine in the last 12 months characterized 21 percent of their practice as defensive, a U.S. study indicated...

N.H. high court halts state raid on liability fund
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Feb 22, 2010
...Experts said the ruling could send a message to other states, such as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where physicians are engaged in similar legal battles over state authorities' grabs at liability pools...

News in brief: N.C. high court narrows liability rule
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Feb 22, 2010
The North Carolina Supreme Court left intact an appeals court ruling that state physicians worry could promote uncertain liability standards and expose them to greater risk...

Antitrust shield bill cuts malpractice insurers
Business Insurance, New York, NY - Feb 22, 2010
A bill has been introduced to strip health insurers of the limited antitrust exemption granted to them by the McCarran-Ferguson Act, but unlike a previous version, this measure would not impose the change on medical malpractice insurers...

States look beyond Washington on health
Wall Street Journal, New York, NY - Feb 22, 2010
...Colorado, meanwhile, has pushed for advances in health information technology and for limits on damages awarded in medical malpractice suits...

Opinion - Dr. Jerome Hines: Medical malpractice reforms are needed
Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, IL - Feb 22, 2010
...This is not the time to saddle health care providers with rising medical malpractice premiums. Illinois law allowed physicians to treat their patients with the right care at the right time, without the risk of having to spend time and money fighting baseless lawsuits...

Utah Legislature: Malpractice awards could get capped
Deseret News, Salt Lake City, UT - Feb 21, 2010
A bill capping malpractice lawsuit awards — a step deemed vital to bringing health care costs under control but a proposal that several lawmakers thought they would never see ?— was approved by a Senate committee Friday...

Opinion - Ralph E. Stone: Time to pass the Health Insurance Industry Enforcement Act of 2009
Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel, MD - Feb 21, 2010
...Repeal of the Act would ensure that health insurance issuers and medical malpractice insurance issuers cannot engage in price fixing, bid rigging, monopoly practices, or market allocations to the detriment of competition and consumers...

Opinion - Don Nelson: It's insurance that needs to be reformed
Banner-Herald, Athens, GA - Feb 21, 2010
...Doctors and legislators have been convinced that malpractice lawsuits represent the big boogeyman responsible for skyrocketing health care costs. Yet, in states where tort reform has been passed, have insurance premiums gone down? For doctors in some states, yes, but for consumers, health care insurance premiums have not...

Opinion - Dan Foster: Health reform 'truths' debunked
The Charleston Gazette, WV - Feb 21, 2010
...Indeed, there are other elements that would be helpful, such as medical liability reform, but as shown by the success of Massachusetts' efforts, as opposed to poor results from other states' piecemeal attempts over the years, the only way to adequately cover the uninsured, control costs and maintain or improve quality is through comprehensive reform...

State's top court is siding with malpractice claims
Detroit Free Press, MI (Associated Press) - Feb 20, 2010
Twice this week, a divided Michigan Supreme Court took action favoring people with medical malpractice claims...

Opinion - Stephen Berman: The urgency of health care reform
The Denver Post, CO - Feb 20, 2010
...Ultimately people's ability to afford to purchase insurance, will depend on our ability to slow the growth in health care expenditures over time. Part of the excessive growth in costs is related to the introduction of new technologies and the impact of medical malpractice on clinical decisions...

2010-02-19T07:35:00.001-05:00

Gubernatorial candidates focus on economy
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA – Feb 19, 2010
…''The liability costs in this commonwealth and the fear of liability insurance for our OBGYNs is so high that the hospitals down here and others have eliminated them because of underlying risk,'' he said….

Editorial: Proposal to leverage tax on physicians to boost federal Medicaid payments would worsen doctor shortage
The Detroit News, MI – Feb 19, 2010
…But West Virginia is dumping its 2 percent physician levy amid claims from the state's medical society that the tax and high malpractice costs, is driving doctors away…

Opinion – Bob McMillan: The future for healthcare reform
Anton Community Newspapers, Mineola, NY – Feb 19, 2010
…When 80 percent of medical liability lawsuits are dismissed, something has to be done to stop frivolous lawsuits. Savings from malpractice reform could mean $60 billion each year in defensive medicine…

Medical malpractice insurers could keep antitrust protection
Insurance Journal, San Diego, CA – Feb 18, 2010
…According to Politico.com, Democratic aides in the House said the final antitrust bill likely will not include new restrictions on medical malpractice insurers…

MI high court again split 4-3 on malpractice
CNBC (Associated Press) – Feb 18, 2010
For the second time in as many days, a divided Michigan Supreme Court took action Thursday favoring people with medical malpractice claims…

SB145 seeks to drive down health care costs
Davis County Clipper, Bountiful, UT – Feb 18, 2010
…There are times that litigation is helpful to negate loss and injury. But there are many suits filed that don’t have merit. That’s what this bill is trying to stop.”…

Business news briefs: APCapital buying back more shares
Lansing State Journal, MI – Feb 18, 2010
…The medical liability insurer on said Wednesday it finished repurchasing $10 million in stocks and started a $20 million plan authorized in December…

Opinion – James Warren: Health care experts must face what politicians won’t
New York Times, NY – Feb 18, 2010
…As for the Republicans, Mr. Dranove would ask them, “Do you have anything meaningful to offer in the debate?” He would note that the overwhelming evidence suggested that malpractice reform would have at best a small impact on spending…

2010-02-18T06:57:00.001-05:00

Opinion - Travis Akin: Malpractice reform law
Chicago Tribune, IL - Feb 18, 2010
...But all of the progress made in the last few years was thrown out when the high court overturned the medical malpractice reform law. Rest assured there is another health care crisis on the horizon. The call to arms starts right now...

Mich. high court split 4-3 on new malpratice rule
Chicago Tribune, IL (Associated Press) - Feb 17, 2010
A divided Michigan Supreme Court has issued an order creating new deadlines for health care providers being sued for malpractice...

Proposal would limit damage awards in California
LegalNewsline.com, Chicago, IL - Feb 17, 2010
...Niello's proposal to cap noneconomic damage awards at $250,000 in all civil cases is similar to California's landmark Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act, the 34-year-old law that limits noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases at $250,000...

Opinion - Mary Kate Cary: How Republicans should handle Obam's health reform summit
US News and World Report - Feb 17, 2010
...There are other common-sense, free-market Republican ideas for healthcare reform that Americans support. A January Rasmussen poll shows that 6 in 10 Americans favor limited jury awards in medical malpractice suits to lower costs...

Opinion: Peter Summerill: Senate Bill 145 -- Insurance firms put profit ahead of patient safety
Standard-Examiner, Ogden, UT - Feb 17, 2010
...Malpractice insurance companies, if they care about quality of care, would support identifying the good health care providers and hospitals and not hiding the others which aren't so good...

2010-02-17T07:30:00.000-05:00

Insurers, providers offer ideas for reform
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA - Feb 17, 2010
...Between daunting medical malpractice premiums, and the prospects for big medical school loan debts, fewer doctors may be entering primary care because other specialties pay more...

Emergency doctors back bill redefining malpractice
The Tennessean, Nashville, TN - Feb 17, 2010
...Under the bill filed last month, the definition of medical malpractice would be changed from "negligence" to "gross negligence," which would raise the bar for mistakes that could trigger a lawsuit...

2010-02-16T06:49:00.001-05:00

Democrats concede on malpractice insurers
Politico, Washington, DC - Feb 16, 2010
...But Democrats look like they’ll scale back the legislation to protect insurance companies that offer malpractice coverage to doctors and other health care providers, bowing to industry pressure in the latest concession of the health care fight...

Opinion - Allen Adomite: A gift to trial lawyers
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO - Feb 16, 2010
...Feb. 4 was not a good day for medical liability reform — as personal injury lawyers were handed a personal gift in the form of 4-2 opinion from the Illinois Supreme Court to strike down the bipartisan medical liability reform...

Editorial: Tort reform won't control health spending
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO - Feb 16, 2010
...Making the system fairer to doctors and patients is a worthwhile goal. But selling "tort reform" as a miracle cure for health care spending? That's just snake oil.

2010-02-15T06:25:00.002-05:00

Liability cap shot down by Illinois high court
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Feb 15, 2010
...The decision marks the third time in roughly 30 years that Illinois justices have thrown out damage caps in medical liability and other personal injury cases based on similar constitutional defects...

Bipartisan quest easier said than done
Wichita Eagle, KS - Feb 15, 2010
...Obama said again last week that he is open to GOP ideas, but left open how avidly he would woo Republicans by accepting their proposals to limit medical malpractice suits or allow interstate operation of insurance companies...

Trial lawyers to Obama: Don't deal on tort reform in health talks
The Hill, Washington, DC - Feb 14, 2010
...Obama’s hints that he is willing to make a deal with Republicans on medical malpractice reform has got physicians and trial lawyers scratching their heads...

Kyl: Dems have already decided how to force health bill through
The Hill, Washington, DC - Feb 14, 2010
...Instead, Kyl called for redrafting the legislation from scratch — another common GOP claim in recent weeks — and argued that it should start with limits on medical malpractice lawsuits...

Editorial: Back to work on health care
The Buffalo News, Buffalo, NY - Feb 14, 2010
...They can ask him why he won't do anything about lawsuit reform, which is needed to combat the expensive problem of defensive medicine; an October analysis by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated savings of $41 billion over 10 years...

Mixed GOP response to WH health summit invite
The Associated Press - Feb 13, 2010
...Members of both parties say they see a few areas for common ground, including revamping the medical malpractice system and finding ways to allow consumers to shop for insurance plans across state lines...

Editorial: Looking forward to health summit
Journal Star, Lincoln, NE - Feb 13, 2010
...Among Republican ideas that are worth consideration are placing limits on medical malpractice awards and allowing small businesses to join in large pools to defray costs and limit risk...

Editorial: New ideas for national health care
Chicago Tribune, IL - Feb 12, 2010
...Sounds like must-see TV. No, we're not kidding. We hope it's not just a cameo appearance for the Republicans but the start of a bipartisan effort at health care reform...

2010-02-12T07:24:00.002-05:00

Health summit puts spotlight on GOP
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA - Feb 12, 2010
...Republicans do this by making it easier to buy insurance across state lines, imposing strict limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and allowing small businesses to pool their resources to buy insurance as a big group...

Democrats skeptical health care summit is answer
ABC News (Associated Press) - Feb 12, 2010
...Another is that Democrats find a way to incorporate some Republican proposals, such as curbs on medical malpractice lawsuits, into legislation. Then they'd essentially call Republicans' bluff by forcing them to vote on it...

Lynch says $140m in spending must be cut
Nashua Telegraph, Hudson, NH - Feb 12, 2010
...the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the move to balance the current budget with $110 million in surplus of the Joint Underwriting Association that supplies medical malpractice or liability insurance coverage to some doctors, hospitals and other providers...

Lynch tells agencies to plan for cuts
Concord Monitor, NH - Feb 12, 2010
...Lynch said the shortfalls were due mainly to three factors: lagging revenue, the Supreme Court's recent decision that the state could not take $110 million from a medical malpractice fund, and increased demand for health and human services...

APCapital earnings slide 16.2 percent
Lansing State Journal, MI - Feb 12, 2010
American Physicians Capital Inc.'s profit dropped 16.2 percent in the fourth quarter. The medical liability insurer reported Thursday it earned $9.7 million, or 95 cents per share for the quarter that ended in December 2009...

Reform group spotlights insurance industry profits
The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY - Feb 11, 2010
...A health care bill proposed by House Republicans could lower premiums on the individual market by as much as 8 percent, but for reasons that could be both good and bad for consumers. For example, a proposed limit on medical malpractice awards could lower premiums without affecting the scope of coverage or who gets it...

Hot-potato legislation seeks fair hearing
Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake CIty, UT - Feb 11, 2010
After a few detours, a controversial bill that would cap medical malpractice awards for pain and suffering at $250,000 is now headed to the Senate Natural Resources committee for discussion and public input...

Throwing insurance reform out with the bath water
Illinois TImes, Springfield, IL - Feb 11, 2010
...because the law contains an “inseverability clause” that specifies the entire law is voided if any part is struck down, several other rules have been struck down along with the award caps. That includes requirements that insurance companies report to the state their profits, investment income, premium rates and a variety of other benchmarks used to determine whether the companies charge fair rates...

Opinion - Keith Forman: Thoughts on the overturning of Illinois' med mal cap
The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD - Feb 11, 2010
...Regardless of what happens in the Freed case, I expect to see many similar challenges to state caps in the near future as a result of the unprecedented decision of the Illinois Supreme Court last week.

2010-02-11T07:16:00.001-05:00

Committee OKs medical review panel bill
Star-Tribune, Casper, WY - Feb 11, 2010
The conclusions of a panel that reviews medical malpractice claims will not be admissible in court if a bill approved by a House committee gets through the Legislature...

Utah Legislature: $250K malpractice cap being debated
Deseret News, Salt Lake City, UT - Feb 11, 2010
Malpractice lawsuits generally, and frivolous cases in particular, are regarded as the most obvious yet least-discussed issue of health care reform efforts, both in Utah and in Congress, according to proponents of SB145...

Editorial: Health care reform stalemate
The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ - Feb 11, 2010
...Democrats have offered nothing on malpractice so far, in deference to the trial lawyers who give them so much money. If Obama really wants to change politics, there’s an opportunity...

Opinion - Richard Ralston: Health care fight: What's next?
The Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA - Feb 10, 2010
...Limits on noneconomic damages in medical liability lawsuits would lower the cost of insurance and the unnecessary tests and procedures now required by "defensive medicine."...

Opinion - Curt Levey: Health-care reform could create a litigation explosion
Wall Street Journal, NY - Feb 10, 2010
...Now that the federal government is inserting itself between you and your insurance company, we'll also see coverage disputes in which the feds are among the defendants. HHS might even wind up as a defendant in medical malpractice lawsuits...

2010-02-10T07:25:00.002-05:00

State asks for JUA rehearing
Concord Monitor, NH - Feb 10, 2010
State officials have asked the state Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling denying the state access to $110 million from a medical malpractice fund...

Virginia passes bill to limit legal claims on one firm
Washington Post, DC - Feb 10, 2010
...The proposal -- one of the few that Howell put his considerable power behind -- would limit liability for Philadelphia-based Crown Cork & Seal, which employs 300 workers at plants in Virginia...

Obama, GOP seek accord
Wall Street Journal, New York, NY - Feb 10, 2010
...The president said he would consider new limits on medical-malpractice lawsuits, something he has opened the door to before. But he suggested this policy would have only a minimal impact on the rising cost of care and would have to be coupled with other changes...

Editorial: Both parties must reform health care
The Des Moines Register, IA - Feb 10, 2010
...Tort reform to cap damages in medical malpractice cases may reduce what doctors pay for malpractice insurance, but it doesn't get more people insured or prevent health insurance companies from denying coverage to people with certain health conditions...

Editorial: Three easy, sensible reforms
The Republican-American, Waterbury, CT - Feb 10, 2010
...And it could reduce health-care costs further by reining in the trial lawyers through a loser-pays system for medical-malpractice lawsuits and the establishment of independent panels to determine the merits of cases before malpractice suits may proceed...

Editorial: Court shouldn't 'fix' what isn't broken
Herald-Review, Decatur, IL - Feb 10, 2010
...The troubling aspect of the Supreme Court's decision is that it discourages the General Assembly from trying again to cap noneconomic damages. The majority in the court has made it clear it will reject such a plan.That will make it more difficult to address any exodus by doctors when malpractice premiums rise again.

Justices chose trial lawyers over patients, ICJL says
Madison/St.Clair Record, Edwardsville, IL - Feb 9, 2010
The four Illinois Supreme Court Justices who voted to overturn the state's caps on damages law last week chose trial lawyers over patients, according to the Illinois Civil Justice League (ICJL)...

2010-02-09T07:11:00.002-05:00

Bipartisan health reform is still possible
Forbes.com - Feb 9, 2010
...Medical malpractice liability for physicians leads to the practice of 'defensive medicine'- -the use of unnecessary and possibly harmful tests and procedures to deter lawsuits--which contributes to higher costs...

GOP may skip health-care talks if Dems won't dump bills
The Denver Post, CO - Feb 9, 2010
...Republicans also contend that changes in state medical malpractice laws could lower costs and slow the growth of premiums.

No high hopes for health care summit
Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, VA - Feb 9, 2010
...But Republicans aides say that even if Obama endorsed a tort reform component, that alone wouldn’t be enough to win GOP support for the Democratic plan...

On health bill, G.O.P.'s road is a new map
New York Times, NY - Feb 8, 2010
...However, some of these proposals — like federal limits on damages for pain and suffering and punitive damages — are potentially in conflict with the Republicans’ emphasis on federalism and state autonomy...

Va. congressman seeks end to anti-trust exemption for health insurers
Insurance & Financial Advisor, Hunt Valley, MD - Feb 8, 2010
With the drive to reform health care stuck in neutral, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to consider a key element of its legislation later this week: the repeal of an anti-trust exemption for health and medical malpractice insurers...

Opinion - Dennis Byrne: Supreme Court sets bad public policy
Chicago Tribune, IL - Feb 8, 2010
The Illinois Supreme Court demonstrated last week that it takes the "supreme" in its name all too seriously, as it struck down with divine certainty one of the best things that the Illinois Legislature has done recently: tort reform...

2010-02-08T07:53:00.001-05:00

Legislation would curb malpractice costs
Standard Speaker, Hazleton, PA - Feb 8, 2010
...One bill by Sen. John Rafferty, R-44, Collegeville, would keep the basic medical liability coverage level that doctors must obtain from the private market at $500,000. This would be accomplished by removing the state insurance commissioner's authority to conduct market studies that could conceivably increase that coverage level to $750,000 or even $1 million, proponents said...

Editorial: Five ideas for getting health care reform back on track
USA Today - Feb 8, 2010
...Add malpractice reform. Democrats resisted any true malpractice reform provision, painting themselves as captives of the trial lawyers' lobby...

Editorial: Moderating malpractice costs
The Baltimore Sun, MD - Feb 8, 2010
...Medical malpractice litigation is still an area that operates as a kind of high-stakes lottery where patients and medical practitioners alike win or lose on the most capricious of circumstances -- actual injury and physician malpractice not always proving to be significant factors...

Opinion - Bruce Bialosky: Real healthcare reform: Kill the lawyers
Townhall.com, Arlington, VA - Feb 8, 2010
...Toward that end, I have a proposal. We need to establish a separate forum to handle claims of medical malpractice...

Source: Obama, congressional leaders to talk health care Feb. 25
CNN - Feb 7, 2010
...Republicans complain the comprehensive Democratic health care bills would lead to a government takeover of health care. They call for smaller steps focused on individual issues, such as limiting medical malpractice lawsuits...

Apologies might save docs from being sued
The Wichita Eagle, KS - Feb 7, 2010
..."I'm sorry" laws are seen as a potential cost-saving move by the Physician Insurers Association of America, which represents medical liability insurers across the country that are owned and operated by medical professionals and cover about 60 percent of doctors...

Malpractice bill seeks to cap awards for pain and suffering
Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, UT - Feb 6, 2010
Victims of medical malpractice could see the amount of damages they could receive cut in half under a bill that is likely to pit the state's physicians against the lawyers who represent injured patients...

Medical lawsuits: Decline in claims cited as success
Columbus Dispatch, OH - Feb 6, 2010
Medical-malpractice claims continue to fall in Ohio, which doctors say is proof that state limits on damages passed in 2003 are having a positive effect...

Illinois revises medical malpractice law
LawyersandSettlements.com, Santa Cruz, CA - Feb 6, 2010
On February 4, 2009 the Illinois Supreme Court voted against the state's medical malpractice law and decided that limits on damages awarded to victims of medical negligence are unconstitutional. Now, Illinois patients may have greater access to health care and lower medical liability rates...

Editorial: Decision harms health care reform
Madison/St. Clair Record, Edwardsville, IL - Feb 6, 2010
...The court has overreached, and the legislature needs to pass new, carefully crafted legislation that creates caps on medical damages and also meets the imposed standards of the court...

2010-02-05T07:48:00.002-05:00

IL Supreme Court throws out medical malpractice caps
Public News Service, Boulder, CO - Feb 5, 2010
Medical groups and insurance companies believe a ruling yesterday by the state Supreme Court will prompt more malpractice suits, while the state's trial lawyers say it's a victory for patients...

Malpractice caps controversial
Herald News, Joliet, IL - Feb 5, 2010
Local reaction to Thursday's decision by the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn caps on medical malpractice awards was passionate on both sides of the debate...

Editorial: Turn for worse for health care
Belleville News-Democrat, IL - Feb 5, 2009
...Now that the law has been tossed out, we expect the exodus to resume. Many of our doctors will move to Missouri or one of the 32 other states that do cap medical malpractice awards...

Illinois Court overturns malpractice statute
New York Times, NY - Feb 4, 2010
In a case that could resonate in Washington, the Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the state’s five-year-old medical malpractice law because it limited compensation to injured patients for pain, suffering and other non-economic harms...

Illinois Supreme Court tosses malpractice-award curbs
Wall Street Journal, NY - Feb 4, 2010
...That law, the court noted in its ruling, was passed to address the rising cost of medical-liability insurance in the state. Still, the court held that the damage cap violates the Illinois constitution's "separation of powers" doctrine by infringing on courts' prerogative to determine appropriate damages in cases...

Illinois Supreme Court strikes down medical mapractice law that limits damages
Chicago Tribune, IL - Feb 4, 2010
The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the state's medical malpractice law, saying limits on damages awarded to victims of medical negligence are unconstitutional...

Editorial: Illinoise Supreme Court declares medical malpractice reform unconstitutional
Chicago Tribune, IL - Feb 4, 2010
...The court threw out a sound law and essentially told the state's lawmakers: Don't even bother to try this again. This is a disastrous decision...

Attorneys say malpractice ruling will have little effect on Peoria
Journal Star, Peoria, IL - Feb 4, 2010
..."The effect it will have locally is very, very small," said attorney Jeff Green of East Peoria. "Doctors here have lost very few cases over the past 10 years."...

Doctors against Court's malpractice caps ruling
The State Journal-Register, Springfield, IL - Feb 4, 2010
Patients in rural Illinois will have to travel farther for specialty medical care, and health-care costs will rise even faster in the wake of Thursday’s Illinois Supreme Court ruling on medical-malpractice caps, three Springfield doctors predicted...

Downstate lawmakers disappointed by court decision on malpractice
Pantagraph, Bloomington, IL - Feb 4, 2010
...The caps were enacted to control rising medical malpractice insurance premiums which were blamed for some doctors leaving the state to practice medicine elsewhere. Downstate lawmakers largely supported the caps...

Illinois Supreme Court knocks down malpractice award limits
The Examiner, Washington, DC - Feb 4, 2010
...17 other states have similar caps, but the majority opinion, written by Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald, says his only concern is the Illinois constitution, writing: "That 'everyboy's doing it' is hardly a litmus test for the constitutionality of the statute."...

Illinois does what Maryland didn't
The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD - Feb 4, 2010
...In the Maryland case, the issue was whether the cap on non-economic damages applies to cases not first submitted to arbitration...

Markey to introduce bill to strip anti-trust protection from insurers
Northern Colorado Business Report, Fort Collins, CO - Feb 4, 2010
U.S. Reps. Betsy Markey, D-Colo., and Tom Perriello, D-Va., will introduce a bill Friday to repeal the anti-trust exemption for health and medical malpractice insurance companies...

2010-02-04T07:20:00.001-05:00

Bill would prevent malpractice insurance costs
Republican & Herald, Pottsville, PA - Feb 4, 2010
...One bill by Sen. John Rafferty, R-44, Collegeville, would keep the basic medical liability coverage level that doctors must obtain from the private market at $500,000...

N.H. revenues fall $12M behind in January
SeacoastOnline.com - Feb 4, 2010
...That hole was made bigger for lawmakers when the Supreme Court ruled last week that the state could not transfer an estimated $44 million from the Joint Underwriting Association fund created by the state to help with medical malpractice premiums to help balance the 2010-2011 biennium budget...

Congressmen seek repeal of McCarran-Ferguson Act
Business Insurance, New York, NY - Feb 3, 2010
...Two freshmen representatives said Wednesday that they plan to introduce a bill this week that will repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act’s limited antitrust exemption for health insurers and medical malpractice liability insurers...

2010-02-03T07:36:00.002-05:00

Nancy Pelosi heads for a two-track plan for health care reform
Politico, Washington, DC - Feb 3, 2010
...House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to take a shot at the health insurance industry next week by scheduling a vote on a smaller bill to revoke its half-century-old exemption from antitrust laws...

SC lawmakers to discuss new lawsuit limits
The State, Columbia, SC - Feb 3, 2010
...A Senate Judiciary panel takes up legislation that would limit lawsuit awards Wednesday. The bill would broaden 2005 limits placed on medical malpractice claims to other litigation...

Editorial: Hitting a new low
Observer-Reporter, Washington, PA - Feb 3, 2010
...No wonder tort reform has such a following. You would think that the Bar Association might discourage such unseemly and unprofessional advertising...

Editorial: State should make it easier for doctors to apologize
The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA - Feb 3, 2010
...Here in Massachusetts, the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony last week on several bills addressing this issue. As it has in the past, the state should once again show leadership in the field of health insurance by writing such malpractice reforms into law.

Illinois SC expected to releaser med-mal opinion
LegalNewsline, Chicago, IL - Feb 2, 2010
The Illinois Supreme Court is expected Thursday to file its opinion on the constitutionality of the state's landmark medical malpractice reform law...

NAIFA, FSR join P-C groups to oppose FTC authority proposal
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Feb 2, 2010
...The proposed bill also could end the antitrust exemption afforded health insurers and medical malpractice insurers by the McCarran-Ferguson Act...

Keep antitrust exemption, insurer groups urge House
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Feb 2, 2010
Insurance trade groups are asking the House to reject proposed legislation that would end the antitrust exemption afforded health and medical malpractice insurers by the McCarran-Ferguson Act...

2010-02-02T07:18:00.000-05:00

Court rejects state budget appeal
The Dartmouth, Hanover, NH - Feb 2, 2010
The New Hampshire Supreme Court rebuffed the state’s claim to the $110-million surplus in the Joint Underwriting Association’s medical malpractice fund in a 3-2 split decision last week...

Trial attorneys say civil system works
Bemidji Pioneer, MN - Feb 2, 2010
Tort reform that includes capping malpractice awards won’t solve anything, simply because it’s not a problem, says the president of the association that represents trial lawyers...

Lawmakers consider bill that would guarantee an apology couldn't earn doctors extra punishments
Lawrence Journal World, Lawrence, KS - Feb 1, 2010
...Under Senate Bill 374, a doctor could express sorrow or concern over an event, such as an operation not turning out well, without that expression being admitted as evidence of liability for any civil claim...

2010-02-01T07:22:00.002-05:00

'I'm sorry': Why is that so hard for doctors to say?
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Feb 1, 2010
...Most insurers discourage doctors from apologizing for fear it could hurt them in court, and lawyers often advise against it...

Editorial: JUA decision means it's time to tighten the budget belt
Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, NH - Feb 1, 2010
...In proposing the last-ditch effort to use JUA money to balance the budget, there was at least a tacit admission that the efforts to tax the state's way through the recession had bottomed out...

Opinion - Janet Trautwein: Medical liability system must change
The Boston Globe, MA - Feb 1, 2010
...Fixing the medical-liability system will not only keep health costs in check, it will expand patients’ access to care...

Editorial: Property protected: The JUA's significance
The Union Leader, Manchester, NH - Jan 31, 2010
...The New Hampshire Supreme Court's Thursday ruling refuting the state's claim to $110 million sitting in a private medical malpractice fund has ramifications far beyond the current state budget...

Malpractice cases drop, but views on why differ
The Des Moines Register, IA - Jan 31, 2010
Iowa patients are suing their doctors for malpractice half as often as they used to, which has helped drive down malpractice-insurance premiums for many physicians...

Lawmakers not expected to mull malpractice reform
The Des Moines Register, IA - Jan 31, 2010
Medical malpractice reform is a perennial issue at the Iowa Legislature, but it probably won't get much airing at the Statehouse this spring...

Opinion - Lola Spradley: Sensible health care reform now possible
The Pueblo Chieftan, CO - Jan 31, 2010
...we need to have lawsuit reform so that doctors do not have to practice defensive medicine by ordering additional tests and procedures just to avoid lawsuits. We need to make sure that patients have the right to compensation for true medical malpractice without all of us paying for unneeded care...

Malpractice risk affects doctors' hours
St. Louis Globe-Democrat, MO (United Press International) - Jan 30, 2010
The number of hours physicians spend on the job each week is influenced by the fear of malpractice lawsuits, U.S. researchers say...

Editorial: Waiting for the court
Chicago Tribune, IL - Jan 29, 2010
...This put a welcome restraint on the "jackpot justice" system of medical malpractice in Illinois, which was particularly egregious in Cook County and downstate Madison County. We remind you of this history because the fate of this law is still in doubt...

2010-01-29T07:19:00.001-05:00

Supreme Court rejects state's claim to JUA fund
The Citizen, Laconia, NH - Jan 29, 2010
...Fitzgerald said that within 10 days the state can ask for a "re-argument, but then it's over," explaining that the New Hampshire Supreme Court "decided this solely on state constitutional grounds," which means the matter cannot be brought to the U.S. Supreme Court...

Multimillion dollar ruling saps budget
Concord Monitor, NH - Jan 29, 2010
...In a 3-2 decision that took 47 pages, the court found that by taking the money the state unconstitutionally interfered with a contract between the Joint Underwriting Association, which administers the fund, and the fund's policyholders...

Supreme Court ruling widens revenue gap
Nashua Telegraph, Hudson, NH - Jan 29, 2010
...In a strongly worded dissent, Justices Linda Dalianis and James Duggan wrote the JUA was creature of the state and the justices should have deferred to the Legislature’s discretion to withdraw any amount over what was needed to keep the JUA solvent...

Editorial: The JUA raid: What's the next scheme?
Union Leader, Manchester, NH - Jan 29, 2010
...Last year, Gov. John Lynch and the Democratic majority in Concord attempted to confiscate $110 million from the Joint Underwriting Association, a private medical malpractice insurance fund, to fill a hole in the state budget. Not surprisingly, the state Supreme Court ruled the seizure of those funds unconstitutional yesterday...

Another reach across the aisle
Baltimore Sun, MD - Jan 29, 2010
...For example, the administration bowed to a powerful Democratic special interest, the trial-lawyer lobby, and refused to make significant changes in medical liability as part of its health care overhaul plan. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that a Republican proposal to limit medical malpractice costs would save taxpayers $54 billion over 10 years...

Republicans say they met Obama challenge for better health plan
BusinessWeek - Jan 29, 2010
...It would limit medical-liability lawsuits by setting up state panels to review cases and make judgments...

Maryland high court upholds medical liability cap
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Jan 28, 2010
An attempt to undo Maryland's liability cap failed before the state's highest court in a ruling physicians say preserved not only the law but also access to care...

2010-01-28T06:47:00.002-05:00

Obama bucks up Democrats on health care
New York Times, NY (Associated Press) - Jan 28, 2010
...Republicans responded by saying they did have ideas, such as limiting medical malpractice awards, even as they rejected Obama's approach...

State, health groups await high court ruling
The Citizen, Laconia, NH - Jan 28, 2010
This morning the New Hampshire Supreme Court is expected to release a ruling on whether the state can use $110 million in surplus from a fund that underwrites medical malpractice insurance...

High court decides malpractice fund issue today
Union Leader, Manchester, NH - Jan 28, 2010
The New Hampshire Supreme Court will answer a $110 million question today on whether the state can tap the reserves of a medical malpractice fund...

Editorial: Act to retain state's doctors
The Gloucester County Times, Woodbury, NJ - Jan 28, 2010
...Specifically, the doctors who left cited (besides family reasons) high living costs, business taxes, and the price of liability and malpractice premiums...

Editorial: How about bipartisan reform of health care?
The Sheboygan Press, WI - Jan 28, 2010
...But Republicans have proposed reasonable alternatives, including allowing people to shop for health insurance outside of their own state and tort reform on malpractice claims...

Obama tries to salvage health care bill
BusinessWeek (Associated Press) - Jan 27, 2010
...Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said Republicans will resist expanding the role of the federal government in health care. He called for limits on jury awards in medical malpractice cases and allowing insurance companies to sell coverage across state lines...

2010-01-27T06:59:00.001-05:00

Effort urged to retain doctors in New Jersey
Courier-Post, Cherry Hill, NJ - Jan 27, 2010
...It said malpractice lawsuits and a hostile work environment for doctors may be key reasons why the Garden State loses some of its most promising medical school graduates...

N.J. faces shortage of doctors caused by 'morale problem' among physicians
The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ - Jan 26, 2010
...Task force members said every state suffers from a physician shortage. But New Jersey ranks 48th, behind Florida and Pennsylvania, for infamously high medical malpractice insurance costs...

Hoyer sees Obama pushing for comprehensive health-care overhaul
BusinessWeek - Jan 26, 2010
...A group of 25 House Democrats led by New Jersey Representative William Pascrell said they were pushing for measures to address rising medical costs, insurance practices and medical malpractice concerns...

2010-01-26T07:23:00.002-05:00

Law Review: A prescription on health-care reform
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Jan 26, 2010
...He says this is what Duane Morris did during Pennsylvania's medical-malpractice crisis several years ago. The firm established an affiliated medical-malpractice insurance company in which doctors were given ownership interests and encouraged to settle malpractice claims early...

GOP struggles for consensus on health care
National Public Radio - Jan 26, 2010
...But it's also important, Nichols says, for federal officials to "recognize that states are the place where medical malpractice jurisdiction lies, and therefore it's better to have local medical communities in the states work this out."...

Industry execs diagnose health care bills' effectiveness
The Virginian-Pilot, Hampton Roads, VA - Jan 26, 2010
...The Senate bill also provides for grants to states to develop more effective medical liability systems. But officials with local providers and insurance companies said they would have liked to see more attention to “tort reform”...

Editorial: Doomsayers take note: Voters still deserve health reform
The Boston Globe, MA - Jan 26, 2010
...One concession to bipartisanship that Democrats should have made is a commitment to medical malpractice reform - a good idea on its merits. Democrats should now get together with Republicans and design a separate bill to change a dysfunctional tort system...

Opinion - Daniel Oliver: Three smooth stones
The American Spectator, Arlington, VA - Jan 26, 2010
...Propose a simple (one-page?) health care bill: a bill that fixes one or at most two problems with the current system. The bill could limit damages from medical malpractice suits, and put federal money into state high-risk pools...

2010-01-25T07:21:00.001-05:00

White House to take new shot at health care reform despite Massachusetts setback, aide says
New York Daily News, NY - Jan 25, 2010
...Republicans, meanwhile - led by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the GOP's 2008 presidential nominee - insisted their party was open to negotiating. He said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that Obama should consider some of the GOP's health care prescriptions, like limiting medical malpractice lawsuits, letting residents buy health insurance across state lines...

Democrats will regroup before trying to salvage health overhaul
BusinessWeek - Jan 25, 2010
...A group of 25 House Democrats led by New Jersey Representative William Pascrell is pushing for passage of a series of smaller bills to address costs, insurance practices and medical malpractice concerns...

Obama urged to focus on jobs
Courier-Post, Cherry Hill, NJ - Jan 25, 2010
...Democrats should incorporate the Tuesday Group's plan, which would limit medical malpractice awards, bar insurers from denying coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions and allow people to purchase cheaper insurance policies across state lines, Lance said...

Editorial: N.H. Dems try to play it safe; GOP won't allow it
Portsmouth Herald, NH - Jan 25, 2010
...The JUA is a state-run medical malpractice fund established in 1986. The court heard arguments in October and is expected to rule shortly. A rule against the state would increase the budget gap by another $110 million...

McCain nudges Obama toward his party's health plans
New York Times, NY - Jan 24, 2010
...said on the CBS news program “Face the Nation” that President Obama should sit down with Republican leaders and begin adopting some of their ideas for improving the nation’s health care system such as overhauling medical malpractice lawsuits...

White House narrows targets on health deal
Wall Street Journal, NY - Jan 24, 2010
...Malpractice is one area where Democrats could show more flexibility in any revamped legislation. Reducing unnecessary lawsuits is an area that resonates with voters, regardless of party affiliation...

Editorial: Massachusetts' message is to slow down
Statesman Journal, Salem, OR - Jan 24, 2010
...Tort reform is sorely needed. Congress will have a hard time agreeing on the approach; but in the interim, Congress can endorse "best practices" guidelines that provide a defense against questionable malpractice lawsuits...

Opinion - Dr. Bill Choby: The growing cost of health care
The Tribune Democrat, Johnstown, PA - Jan 22, 2010
...These sums are often wildly irrational– the cost of which are passed onto all doctors with unpredictably higher malpractice insurance premiums...

2010-01-22T07:06:00.000-05:00

Analysis - Paring back health care not so easy
New York Times, NY (Associated Press) - Jan 22, 2010
...Alternatives to medical malpractice litigation also could yield savings. The Congressional Budget Office, reversing a previous analysis, says curbs on jury awards in malpractice cases could save the government $54 billion over 10 years by reducing defensive medicine...

Health-care bill supporters prepare for longer road to passage
Bloomberg.com - Jan 22, 2010
...A group of 25 House Democrats is pushing for passage of smaller bills to address rising medical costs, insurance practices and medical malpractice concerns...

Democrats drop health plan in face of voter anger
Washington Examiner, DC - Jan 22, 2010
..."Both of those bills, as they stand now, are dead," said Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., after a caucus meeting with panicked House Democrats, who characterized Brown's win and the message it sent as their party's Hurricane Katrina...

Berks stakeholders weigh in on reform
Reading Eagle, Reading, PA - Jan 22, 2010
...I'd also like to see a fix for the medical liability system and for the broken Medicare reimbursement system for physicians."...

Editorial: Election didn't change need for health reform
The State Journal-Register, Springfield, IL - Jan 22, 2010
...Medical malpractice reform, the GOP’s pet health-care reform idea, would save the government $41 billion over the next 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That’s in addition to the $132 billion that would be saved under the Senate Democratic bill as it exists today...

Insurers now focus of Democrats' health talks
Wall Street Journal, NY - Jan 21, 2010
...A second bill would remove the antitrust exemption enjoyed by the health-insurance industry, and a third would attempt to relieve the burden doctors face from medical-malpractice lawsuits, an idea popular among Republicans...

Opinion - Carolyn B. Lamm: Health courts: Adding injustice to injury
The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA - Jan 21, 2010
...The American Bar Association firmly supports the integrity of the jury system, the independence of judges, and the right of consumers to receive compensation for their injuries – without any arbitrary caps on damages or denial of rights to a jury trial...

2010-01-21T07:34:00.001-05:00

Experts debate the fate of health-care bill
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Jan 21, 2010
...Reichman, a plastic surgeon, says he supports an overhaul, but he wants a bill that includes changes in malpractice rules, reductions in administrative costs, changes in Medicare-payment rules for doctors, and more money for primary care...

Editorial: Democrats have not made case
Wichita Eagle, KS - Jan 21, 2010
...The House Republican plan offered last fall didn't count. Though it had some good ideas, including medical malpractice reform, it would have increased the number of uninsured to 52 million people by 2019 and increased the deficit...

Opinion - Peter Morici: The message from Massachusetts
Statesman Journal, Salem, OR - Jan 21, 2010
...Real reform would reduce drug and administrative costs to those in other advanced countries, like Germany or Holland, and end waste imposed by malpractice suits those countries don't endure...

Obama weighs paring goals for health bill
New York Times, NY - Jan 20, 2010
...as well as aid for small businesses for health costs and possible steps to restrict malpractice lawsuits. But as Mr. Obama noted on ABC, a pared-down package imposing restrictions on insurers might make coverage unaffordable, which is one reason he prefers a broad overhaul...

Editorial: After Massachusetts
Chicago Tribune, IL - Jan 20, 2010
...And they'd control health costs in part by reining in the medical malpractice system that raises insurance premiums and forces doctors to order tests to protect themselves from lawsuits...

Editorial: Health reform
Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, UT - Jan 20, 2010
...Among them is the government insurance plan -- the public option -- that would compete with private insurance policies and help control costs. Another is the repeal of the anti-trust exemption for health care insurers and medical malpractice insurers...

2010-01-20T06:51:00.001-05:00

Wis. Senate votes to expand malpractice claims
The Janesville Gazette, WI (Associated Press) - Jan 20, 2010
...The bill approved Tuesday allows parents to sue for pain and suffering damages if their adult-aged children die as a result of medical negligence. Similarly, adult-aged children could sue for damages when their parents are victims of malpractice under the bill...

Florida hospitals must tell patients of lawsuit limits
Insurance Journal, CA - Jan 20, 2010
...The justices last week ruled hospitals that fail to do so can then be sued even if a patient's doctor provided a notice required by a law designed to reduce malpractice cases against obstetricians...

Missouri Supreme Court hears challenge to malpractice limits
Insurance Journal, CA - Jan 19, 2010
Missouri's top judges questioned Jan. 14 whether a 2005 law limiting medical malpractice lawsuits is being wrongly applied to people retroactively and is discriminating against the spouses of those injured...

Medical malpractice suits drop sharply in Tennessee
The Clinical Advisor, New York, NY - Jan 19, 2010
...In the year that the new bill has been in place, the number of medical malpractice suits filed in Tennessee has dropped by 60%. However, this drop in cases has not yet been reflected in the cost of malpractice insurance for health professional...

Annual report highlights six "judicial hellholes"
The Clinical Advisor, New York, NY - Jan 19, 2010
...South Florida, known for medical malpractice claims, tobacco lawsuits and large monetary verdicts, this jurisdiction has some of the highest medical malpractice rates in the country...

Tort reform hangs in the balance in Georgia
The Clinical Advisor, New York, NY - Jan 19, 2010
Lawyers and legislators are anxiously awaiting decisions on two cases in Georgia that may affect the state's tort reforms...

2010-01-19T07:53:00.000-05:00

Malpractice system survives healthcare overhaul intact
Los Angeles Times, CA - Jan 19, 2010
...Critics, especially Republicans and doctors, had long complained that the medical malpractice system showered huge fees on attorneys, did little for ordinary Americans and added billions of dollars in costs...

Opinion - Jon Healey: What does it mean to 'start over' in healthcare reform?
Los Angeles Times, CA - Jan 19, 2010
...Malpractice insurance premiums have risen sharply over the past 20 years, so they certainly are a factor in healthcare inflation. But it's not clear that damage caps will rein them in...

Opinion - Matthew P. McCauley: Reforms reduced cost of liability insurance, and lowered cost of care
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO - Jan 19, 2010
...As a result of the 2005 reforms, the cost of professional liability (medical malpractice) insurance for doctors in Missouri is down from the punishing levels reached early in the last decade. Doctors no longer fear that the cost of insurance will force them to limit the sorts of treatments they provide or consider relocating...

2010-01-18T07:16:00.001-05:00

GOP’s plans change little for uninsured, analyses show
The Columbus Dispatch, OH – Jan 18, 2010
…In particular, they have said they want to limit the financial damages from medical malpractice lawsuits (as has already been done in Ohio), which they insist impose huge costs on physicians and hospitals…

Opinion - Rebecca J. Patchin, MD: Health reform package still needs some improvement
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Jan 18, 2010
...The AMA will work to secure final language that authorizes a grant program for a broad array of state alternative medical liability reforms. We will work to strike language allowing patients to opt out of the alternative liability program...

Opinion – Dr. Steven M. Malkin: Supreme Court must stand up for reform
Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, IL – Jan 18, 2010
…The law worked quickly to rectify the situation, with numerous reports of much-needed medical specialists - neurosurgeons, OB/GYN and orthopedic surgeons - returning to practice here, many citing liability reform as a primary reason for choosing Illinois…

Garrett’s bills to go to state Assembly
Cumberland Times-News, Cumberland, MD – Jan 17, 2010
…If a doctor delivers more than 30 per year, the cost of medical malpractice insurance can increase by about $100,000 because of insurance stipulations. Previously, legislation was in place that subsidized the gap between the general practitioners’ malpractice insurance costs and the increase, but that has expired…

Angry plastic-surgery patients vent online; doctors on damage control
New York Magazine - Jan 17, 2010
...Cosmetic surgeons are quite familiar with difficult patients and malpractice cases; a few years back, a man who had undergone a facelift was so unhappy with the results that he took to picketing outside the office of his surgeon...

2010-01-15T07:44:00.002-05:00

Medical fund transfer considered
Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, WI - Jan 15, 2010
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether it was legal for lawmakers to use $200 million from a medical malpractice fund to help balance the state budget...

Antitrust exemption targeted
Denver Daily News, CO - Jan 15, 2010
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet is pushing for a compromise agreement on health care reform to include language that would repeal antitrust exemptions for the health insurance industry...

Missouri Supreme Court hears arguments in medical malpractice limits case
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO - Jan 15, 2010
...How seven Missouri Supreme Court judges answer that question could decide whether a 2005 law that limited damage awards in medical malpractice lawsuits is overturned...

Opinion - Paul Carpenter: Tort tiff generates varied views
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA - Jan 15, 2010
...There is no middle ground when it comes to tort reform, a largely hapless crusade seeking to put a lid on runaway litigation...

Insurer antitrust exemption repeal gets push from 18 Dem senators
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Jan 14, 2010
...Meanwhile, as part of the insurers lobbying effort against such a move, the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) placed an advertisement in the tabloid newspaper published in Washington, Politico, warning that including medical liability insurers in such legislation could lead “us into another medical malpractice crisis across the country.”...

Oregon seeks $300,000 tort reform grant
The Lund Report, Portland, OR - Jan 14, 2010
...They’re on a quick timeline to submit the grant, which is due by Jan. 20. If successful, their work will start in 2011. However they face stiff competition since only 12 grants will be awarded nationwide...

2010-01-14T09:15:00.001-05:00

Political eyes on Supreme Court medical malpractice case today
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO - Jan 14, 2010
The Missouri Supreme Court today will hear arguments in a case that could have far-reaching political implications. The case, filed by Mary and James Klotz of Arnold, seeks to overturn a 2005 law that set a hard cap of $350,000 for non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits...

Obama seeks to resolve lawmakers' differences over health care
BusinessWeek - Jan 14, 2010
...“There is simply no reason for health insurance and medical malpractice insurance companies to be exempt from federal laws prohibiting price fixing, bid rigging and market allocation,” the senators wrote...

After learning of campaign donations, Dems turn up heat on insurance companies
The Hill, Washington, DC - Jan 13, 2010
...“While there are divergent views on the best way to introduce choice and competition into health insurance market, we can surely agree that health and medical malpractice insurers should not be allowed to collude to set prices and allocate markets,” the lawmakers wrote...

House OKs med malpractice panel
New Hampshire Business Review, Manchester, NH - Jan 13, 2010
The New Hampshire House passed a bill Tuesday that would allow those in front of a medical malpractice screening panel to give “offers of proof” – documentary evidence – about the charges, as opposed to providing the testimony of live witnesses, in order to reduce costs...

Maryland Court of Appeals moves to limit medical malpractice awards
Baltimore Business Journal, MD - Jan 13, 2010
The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled to preserve limits on medical malpractice awards, overturning the decision of a Montgomery County Circuit Court...

2010-01-13T09:09:00.002-05:00

Massachusetts election has Democrats on edge
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA - Jan 13, 2010
...He's advocating traditional GOP prescriptions like allowing consumers to buy insurance across state lines, medical malpractice reform and the elimination of state mandates...

Opinion - George Voinovich: Reform bill does little to fix health care system problems
Zanesville TImes Recorder, OH - Jan 13, 2010
...Frankly, there are a number of incremental things we could do today to make real improvements to our system. These include: eliminating pre-existing exclusions and lifetime caps on health insurance; making it easier for small businesses to group together to reduce their health care costs; passing medical liability reform...

State court of appeals affirms malpractice caps
The Gazette, Gaithersburg, MD - Jan 12, 2010
...His decision, in effect, invalidated caps that were part of a 2004 special session of the General Assembly called to resolve a crisis in medical malpractice. Insurance rates were climbing and doctors were threatening to leave Maryland...

Okla. GOP lawmakers tout pro-business agenda
ABC News (Associated Press) - Jan 12, 2010
...The decision to tackle workers' compensation comes after Democratic Gov. Brad Henry signed Republican-backed legislation in May that made sweeping changes to Oklahoma's civil justice system to block frivolous lawsuits, and reduce medical malpractice and product liability insurance rates...

Opinion - David M. Herszenhorn: Why does health care cost so much?
New York Times, NY - Jan 12, 2010
...Republicans, with good reason, argue that there is no meaningful effort in the legislation to control one item they say adds cost to the system: medical malpractice lawsuits...

2010-01-12T07:12:00.001-05:00

Trial bar seeks to expand liability, end arbitration clauses
LegalNewsline, Chicago, IL - Jan 12, 2010
...The Washington-based group announced its 2010 legislative agenda as it nears a major victory on Capitol Hill. This year, the trial bar was able to keep tort reform out of the proposed federal health care overhaul being crafted by Congress...

Trial bar tries to end 'forced arbitration'
The Hill, Washington, DC - Jan 11, 2010
...A bigger win for the trial bar relates to something that hasn’t happened. Democrats did not include substantive restrictions on medical malpractice awards, although the Congressional Budget Office found limits would save as much as $54 billion over a decade...

Editorial: Medical malpractice "reform" is about gaming the system
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO - Jan 11, 2010
...In Klotz v. Shapiro, the court is weighing a challenge to legislation enacted in 2005 that imposes some of the toughest procedural and legal restrictions in the nation on medical negligence lawsuits...

Opinion - Rebecca Logan: Backroom health deal hurts contractors
Anchorage Daily News, AK - Jan 11, 2010
...Health care reform that is fair to everyone should include medical malpractice reform that will lower the cost of health insurance for everyone...

2010-01-11T07:07:00.002-05:00

Debate behind closed doors
The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register, WV - Jan 10, 2010
...But Capito noted there are "other things" she would like to see addressed in the bill. These include allowing the public to purchase health insurance across state lines and the consideration of tort reform as a cost savings...

Opinion - Paul Carpenter: Are reforms for lawyers justified?
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA - Jan 10, 2010
...Another addressed the key point of his second letter, which cited an item in the New Jersey Law Journal about ''how outrageous doctors can be.'' (At the moment, the main lobbying for tort reform is from medicos, putting them and the legal profession at bitter odds.)...

Opinion - John Ratkowitz, Esq.: Juries are smart enough to decide malpractice awards
The TImes of Trenton, NJ - Jan 10, 2010
...doctors have attacked jury verdicts and trial lawyers, only to learn, after publicly taking positions advocated by their malpractice carriers, that jury verdicts have little to do with their current predicament...

Is 'sorry' the hardest word in health care?
The New York Times, NY - Jan 9, 2010
...Although one might assume that apologizing exposes hospitals to increased litigation, a few medical centers, including the University of Michigan Health Sysatem, have reported that the approach has reduced malpractice suits...

State defers insurance fund raid
Concord Monitor, NH - Jan 9, 2010
The state will not spend any money from a medical malpractice fund until the state Supreme Court decides whether that money legally belongs to the state...

Opinion - Mike Thomas: Winter Park's Cecil Wilson, next AMA chief, steers toward middle
Orlando Sentinel, FL - Jan 9, 2010
...The AMA may well have gotten the sweetest deal of all the major health care players, including the drug companies and hospitals. The AMA's major concession is giving in on medical malpractice reform, which only receives token consideration in these bills...

2010-01-08T07:38:00.001-05:00

Opinion - David Freddoso: Trial lawyers: We're served well by Obamacare
San Francisco Examiner, CA - Jan 8, 2010
...Those demonstration projects that Obama promised? Don't worry -- they're meaningless. There will be no reform of excessive, unwarranted non-economic damages...

House: Keep the health bill antitrust repeal provision
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Jan 7, 2010
House Democrats are insisting that the final version of the health bill include a provision taking the McCarran Ferguson Act antitrust exemption away from health and medical liability insurers...

Opinion - David Martin: Middle ground for tort reform
Atlanta Journal Constitution, GA - Jan 7, 2010
...I believe the best way to approach this issue is to have Georgia’s potential medical malpractice cases screened first by a rotating panel of health care professionals, including doctors, nurses and perhaps representatives from the insurance industry...

Research: What ails America's health care policies?
Penn Current, University of Pennsylvania - Jan 7, 2010
...“The common theme of my empirical research is investigating the relationship between liability and insurance,” says Baker, who is finishing a book on the role of liability insurance in shareholder litigation.His previous book, “The Medical Malpractice Myth,” turned the debate on its head...

2010-01-07T07:27:00.001-05:00

Congressman talks health care reform
Sun Gazette, Williamsport, PA - Jan 7, 2010
...Carney was asked to consider tort reform measures as a means of cutting insurance costs as is done in Texas and Mississippi. He said such moves have not helped those two states reduce their number of malpractice suits filed by patients...

Schwarzenegger makes tort reform a top priority
LegalNewsline, Chicago, IL - Jan 6, 2010
...In a position paper released Wednesday, Schwarzenegger said he plans to ask the state Legislature to address frivolous lawsuits and said he plans to seek a series of changes to the rules governing class-action and product liability lawsuits. He also wants a cap on punitive damage awards...

Opinion - J.G. Preston: If malpractice insurance rates are driving MDs out of business, why are there more doctors?
California Progress Report, San Mateo, CA - Jan 6, 2010
...Are doctors are being driven out of the business? And is that a phenomenon limited to states that don’t have caps on damage awards?...

2010-01-06T07:23:00.000-05:00

Opinion - Ralph E. Stone: Repeal health insurers' antitrust exemption
San Francisco Chronicle, CA - Jan 6, 2010
...Repeal of the act would ensure that health insurance issuers and medical malpractice insurance issuers cannot engage in price fixing, bid rigging, monopoly practices or market allocations to the detriment of competition and consumers...

Washington to tackle credit scoring, streamline agent/broker licensing
Insurance Journal, San Diego, CA - Jan 5, 2010
...Among the changes are that some people handling medical malpractice claims are required to report some data to the state insurance commissioner. Unfortunately, many of the groups required to report claims data have failed to do so, despite repeated urging by the OIC...

Opinion - Keith Forman: Turning off the lawyer persona at home
The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD - Jan 5, 2010
...I’ll try my hardest, but eventually the medical malpractice lawyer in me comes out. It usually culminates with a giggle or a sneering comment...

2010-01-05T08:30:00.001-05:00

State's limits on punitive damages challenged
Review Journal, Las Vegas, NV - Jan 5, 2010
...Another state law places a $350,000 limit on the amount of punitive damages a patient can recover in medical malpractice cases...

Docs deflect increasing malpractice claims
Memphis Daily News, TN - Jan 5, 2010
...Physicians and their insurance companies traditionally close up to 85 percent of malpractice cases without paying a penny to plaintiffs. But in the latest year of data available, 2007, the cost of those wins was up 17.5 percent...

CBO confirms its support of med mal reform
Physicians News Digest, Warminster, PA - Jan 4, 2010
...Supposing the passage of medical malpractice reform, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) upped their projected savings to $54 billion from $5 billion over the next 10 years. Several lawmakers, particularly former ambulance chasers, were not satisfied with the new estimates and asked for more detail...

2010-01-04T09:00:00.002-05:00

Deadline near for patient safety/liability reform proposals
American Medical News, Chicago, IL – Jan 4, 2010
The Jan. 20 deadline is approaching for states and health systems looking to grab federal grant money dedicated to testing new approaches to improving patient safety and reducing medical liability pressures on physicians…

Ohio court to decide what damages are reasonable
American Medical News, Chicago, IL – Jan 4, 2010
… Because the high court's interpretation of the collateral source rule has broad implications for medical liability judgments, the case has garnered significant attention from the physician community…

Medical malpractice suits drop with new requirements
Nashville Public Radio, TN – Jan 4, 2010
The number of medical malpractice cases filed in Tennessee has dropped 60% this year. The steep decline in lawsuits stems from two new screening requirements…

Opinion – Paul Carpenter: Dentist’s column on tort very logical
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA – Jan 3, 2010
… He pointed out that both of Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators voted against legislation to cap the obscene fees that contingency fee lawyers are allowed to charge in medical malpractice cases…

Editorial: There’s no health care reform without cost control
Worcester Business Journal, MA – Jan 3, 2010
… Spending money on so-called reforms, while ignoring the fundamental flaws in our health care system (like the skyrocketing cost of medical malpractice insurance and the over-use of million-dollar surgical gizmos) would be a giant disservice to the American taxpayer…

State of the state in 2010
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA – Jan 2, 2010
…Some critics say that balancing the 2010-11 budget could be especially difficult because one-time revenue sources, such as a $700 million account to defray doctors' medical malpractice costs and the state's $750 million "rainy day fund," were used up to balance the current budget…

Year’s first births highlight concerns in Phila.
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA – Jan 2, 2010
… "Hospitals are being squeezed by low insurance payments, especially from Medicaid; the high cost of medical liability insurance; and a shortage of obstetricians," said Ken Braithwaite…

Editorial: Health care bill worthy of passage
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, FL – Jan 2, 2010
… For this reason, we're disappointed the Senate ruled out a public insurance option, and neither chamber made a serious stab at medical malpractice reform, interstate insurance sales or changing the cost-inflating system that pays providers for the quantity, not quality, of care…

2010-01-01T13:26:00.001-05:00

What’s ahead for the Poconos in 2010
Pocono Record, Stroudsburg, PA – Jan 1, 2010
…"We have lost too many great physicians who have left the state of Pennsylvania because of rising malpractice premiums," Kuck said.

State’s health care overseer seeks committee members
Statesman Journal, Salem, OR – Jan 1, 2010
…The Medical Liability Task Force will evaluate approaches to medical liability reform, including caps on non-economic damage awards…

Opinion – James Harris: Effort to repeal tort reform dangerous
Springfield News-Leader, MO – Jan 1, 2010
…Indeed, the repeal of tort reform laws by lawyer-influenced courts has become a disturbing national pattern - approximately 138 tort reform statutes have been overturned, according to the American Tort Reform Association…

2009-12-31T10:58:00.001-05:00

Opinion – Robert Montion: Health-care bills need amending
Visalia Times-Delta, Visalia, CA – Dec 31, 2009
…If we want to cut costs, give physicians some breathing room by introducing real medical malpractice reform that caps unjustified awards while maintaining room for justice to be served…

Opinion – Keith Forman: Medical malpractice: A look from both sides
The Daily Record, Baltimore, MD – Dec 31, 2009
…One of the most significant events was that I went from being a med mal defense lawyer back to being a Plaintiffs’ med mal lawyer…

Opinion – Mark Strain: The critical last two weeks of 2009
Collier Citizen, Naples, FL – Dec 31, 2009
…There are plenty of procedures that coincide with these batteries of tests and medications; all piled on to make sure all the risk is covered, even for the simplest medical conditions that many times do not warrant such attention...

CBO increases tort reform savings estimate
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ – Dec 30, 2009
A new study by the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office almost doubles its earlier estimate of the reduction in cost of medical liability insurance through a common package of tort reforms…

2009-12-30T10:37:00.001-05:00

State budget cuts prompt belt-tightening for agencies
The Williamsport Sun-Gazette, PA – Dec 30, 2009
… lawmakers voted to raid the Mcare fund used to help pay malpractice costs for doctors. If those dollars disappear, it means the health system will dig deeper into its own pocket to help cover malpractice for its 107 physicians…

Trial lawyers sidestep malpractice curbs with blitz in Congress
BusinessWeek – Dec 30, 2009
U.S. Senate staff members arriving at work by subway this month were greeted by signs proclaiming that “98,000 patients may die” through medical malpractice…

N.C. includes more disciplinary actions in physician profiles
American Medical News, Chicago, IL – Dec 30, 2009
…The disciplinary information, which physicians and physician assistants are required to report, make North Carolina's physician profiles among the most comprehensive in the nation…

Opinion – J. Richard Goldstein, MD: Assure adequate supply of physicians in New Jersey
The Times of Trenton, NJ – Dec 30, 2009
… The American Medical Association lists our state as one of the least desirable places in the country to practice medicine. Our tort environment is just one reason we are near the top of that dubious list…

2009-12-29T09:36:00.000-05:00

Editorial: Our health system is sick, but our system of government is much sicker
Beauford Observer, Washington, NC – Dec 29, 2009
…The proponents of Obamacare say that it is intended to cut unnecessary medical costs. Yet there is nothing in the bill that reduces the cost of medical malpractice. The Trial Lawyers made out like bandits in this thing…

Advertising – An underground campaign
New York Times, NY – Dec 28, 2009
…Trying to fend off any limits to patient lawsuits, the lawyers decided to press their arguments in a new location — the subway system here…

2009-12-28T09:23:00.002-05:00

Opinion – J. James Rohack, MD: AMA is working with the Senate
Wall Street Journal, NY – Dec 28, 2009
… It also authorizes grants to test alternative medical liability reforms that show promise in benefiting patients and reducing the impact of defensive medicine. The AMA supports passage of the amended Senate bill…

System reform at what cost?
The Hutchinson News, Hutchinson, KS – Dec 27, 2009
…The KHA along with regional doctors and administrators say health care reform should include liability system reforms…

Editorial: Heal the health bill
Orlando Sentinel, FL – Dec 27, 2009
… For this reason, we're disappointed the Senate ruled out a public insurance option, and neither chamber made a serious stab at medical-malpractice reform, interstate insurance sales or changing the cost-inflating system that pays providers for the quantity, not quality, of care…

Opinion – Ron Slagell, Samantha Pearl: Health-care reform – We need to do better
Battle Creek Enquirer, MI – Dec 27, 2009
… Many critical issues are not sufficiently addressed in the current legislation: true reform around medical malpractice lawsuits, personal responsibility, pharmaceutical access and cost…

Opinion – Cara Peggs: Docs realize that coverage does not mean care
The Indianapolis Star, IN – Dec 27, 2009
… Doctors already have no autonomy or authority -- due to federal regulations -- but still carry all the liability and risk, as you see in the billion-dollar medical malpractice industry…

Missouri bill would regulate docs’ malpractice premiums
Kansas City Business Journal, MO – Dec 25, 2009
A rural Missouri legislator wants to tie medical malpractice insurance rates to malpractice judgments in the county where a health care provider practices…

Senate, House to haggle over differences
Wall Street Journal, NY – Dec 25, 2009
… However, Democrats didn't focus on malpractice as they shaped their bills, especially after they lost hope of gaining any significant Republican support. The final Senate bill contains a mostly symbolic suggestion that states adopt alternatives to lawsuits, but no major direct changes to the system…

2009-12-24T15:10:00.001-05:00

Senate votes 60-39 to pass Reid health bill
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Dec 24, 2009
Members of the Senate voted 60-39 at 7:16 a.m. today to pass H.R. 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act bill...

How ObamaCare will affect your insurance
Forbes.com - Dec 24, 2009
...The bill is light on malpractice reforms, and only funds a few pilot projects. So doctors will still be in a state of litigation-induced paranoia...

Federal antitrust exemption for health insurers remains under Senate bill
California Progress, San Mateo, CA - Dec 24, 2009
...most of the exemption, which was granted under the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act, was removed in the House version of the bill, and it would be one of the items to be negotiated in a conference committee...

2009-12-23T07:24:00.000-05:00

Health care plan has supporters, critics here
Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster, PA - Dec 23, 2009
...Medical malpractice lawsuits — or more precisely the fear of them — are driving up the cost of medical care, Rizzo said...

Jailhouse docs choose inmates over insurance
CNNMoney.com - Dec 23, 2009
...Better pay, better hours, retirement benefits and free malpractice insurance are just a few of the reasons why physicians are picking prisoners over civilian patients...

Opinion - Michael E. Getnick: Don't blame civil lawsuits - blame negligence
The Ithica Journal, NY - Dec 23, 2009
...Those who want to reduce the number of lawsuits should focus on reducing the negligent behavior that harms people and causes them to sue. Ignoring underlying causes and blaming the victims and their lawyers for suing undermines an important safeguard that our civil justice system provides to all our citizens.

State Capitol Q&A: Government involvement in legal liability cases
The State Journal-Register, Springfield, IL - Dec 22, 2009
...The state Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on the legality of the caps on damage awards in medical malpractice cases that lawmakers established in 2005 to quell an uprising of doctors who claimed they were being financially ruined...

Senate OKs health bill amendment, limits debate on full bill
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Dec 22, 2009
...The PPACA bill amendment also would cut Medicare physician reimbursement rates 21% in 2010, rather than increasing reimbursement rates 0.5%; restructure a proposed system for imposing annual fees on health insurers; increase a proposed hospital insurance payroll tax on high-income workers to 0.9%, from 0.9%; encourage states to establish medical malpractice dispute resolution pilot programs...

2009-12-22T07:06:00.002-05:00

Opinion - J.G. Preston: Medical negligence damage caps in Texas benefit only doctors, insurers
California Progress Report, San Mateo, CA - Dec 22, 2009
While limits on damages awarded to victims of medical negligence in Texas have been touted as a model for America, a study by the watchdog group Public Citizen shows Texas’ damage caps aren’t providing benefits to consumers...

Majority of medical liability premiums stabilize or drop
The Clinical Advisor, New York, NY - Dec 21, 2009
Ninety-four percent of medical liability insurance premiums remained the same or dropped in price in 2009, according to the annual Medical Liability Monitor survey, which polls insurance companies to track this information...

Trial lawyers prepare for tort reform fight
The Clinical Advisor, New York, NY - Dec 21, 2009
The American Association for Justice, a trial lawyers group, has launched a grassroots campaign to highlight the issue of medical errors and the importance of malpractice litigation...

Smarr: Senate should fix self-gutting malpractice provision
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Dec 21, 2009
A proposed addition to H.R. 3590, the Senate health bill, would encourage states to set up new systems for handling medical malpractice claims – but it also would let claimants opt out of using the new systems...

Antitrust exemption for health insurers may continue
Main Justice, Washington, DC - Dec 21, 2009
An effort to repeal the antitrust exemption for health insurers took a step back this weekend, when Democratic leaders left it out of a package of changes to the health system overhaul bill the Senate is voting on this week...

Editorial: No to health bill
The Buffalo News, NY - Dec 21, 2009
...Malpractice suits drive up the costs of doctors' insurance, but far worse on the economy and the soaring cost of care are the unnecessary tests doctors order to protect themselves. The bill does nothing to combat this insidious problem...

Opinion - Alan Moore: The Obama health care bill will lead to a single payer system
Examiner, Oklahoma City, OK - Dec 21, 2009
...Second, tort reform is needed to cap the amount of payouts on medical malpractice suits. These suits, many of which are frivolous, drive the cost of insurance up for everyone...

2009-12-21T07:03:00.000-05:00

Beginning to sound a lot like a campaign season
Daily Herald, Arlington Heights, IL - Dec 21, 2009
...The state's legal, medical, business and political circles continue to await an Illinois Supreme Court decision on a 2005 law that limited jury awards on pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases, a ruling that could propel the issue to the forefront of the campaigns...

Editorial: Trial lawyers buy Democrats in Congress
Washington Examiner, DC - Dec 21, 2009
Neither of the Obamacare proposals now before Congress includes a medical malpractice reform provision despite the fact that the public wants one -- and that it would cut annual health care costs by $200 billion...

Malpractice setup haunts Lee County, U.S. health care
The News-Press, Fort Myers, FL - Dec 20, 2009
In the six years since Florida put limits on damages in medical malpractice lawsuits, insurance premiums and lawsuits have dropped. But physicians — including those in Lee County — continue ordering billions of dollars worth of extra tests...

Opinion - Marcus Rayner: Tort reform is the key to a healthier New Jersey
The Times of Trenton, NJ - Dec 20, 2009
...Malpractice insurance costs so much because New Jersey's current civil justice laws are decisively anti-physician. Malpractice awards in New Jersey are not capped, for one...

Tort law brought more doctors, but its effect on patients is unclear
Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX - Dec 19, 2009
...Although Texas is being held up as a national example of success in limiting medical malpractice damages — with a 51 percent increase in new doctors and a 27 percent drop in malpractice insurance rates since a law went into effect in 2003 — the impact on consumers has been far less clear...

Opinion - Dr. George Schroeder: America's healthcare system consists of medicolegal diseasecare
Muskogee Phoenix, OK - Dec 19, 2009
There must be medical malpractice tort reform, which in Texas and Mississippi have successfully helped bring down healthcare costs...

2009-12-18T07:16:00.002-05:00

Medical malpractice: Illinois Supreme Court delays ruling on damages cap case
Chicago Tribune, IL - Dec 18, 2009
...The high court didn't give a reason for the decision to delay a ruling. The next batch of Supreme Court opinions is expected in mid-January, the court spokesman said...

Editorial: Reforms need court's blessing
Belleville News Democrat, IL - Dec 18, 2009
St. Clair and Madison counties have moved off the judicial hellhole list, but the area's medical community remains in purgatory while it awaits the fate of the 2005 medical malpractice reform law...

Opinion - Wayne Willoughby: 'Tort reform' won't fix health care
Baltimore Sun, MD - Dec 18, 2009
...Tort law changes are not a novel idea. Forty-six states have passed some kind of tort reform, and about three dozen have some form of cap on damages - but health care costs have continued to skyrocket....

Editorial: Tort reform Udall
The Durango Herald News, CO - Dec 18, 2009
Thursday, Colorado Sen. Mark Udall introduced an amendment to the health-care-reform bill aimed at reducing the cost of medical-malpractice lawsuits. It is neither a panacea nor partisan grandstanding, but a thought-provoking effort that deserves serious consideration...

Health care reform: Udall pushes $10 million study of malpractice trials
The Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO - Dec 17, 2009
...He says the amendment will save doctors on their malpractice insurance premiums and save consumers cash when they sue their physicians...

Caps decision may be another month away
The Record, Edwardsville, IL - Dec 17, 2009
...A ruling had been anticipated Thursday morning regarding a challenge to the Illinois Medical Malpractice Act of 2005 -- a law that caps non-economic damages to $500,000 for doctors and $1 million for hospitals...

Voters may be asked again to cap suit awards
The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, AZ - Dec 17, 2009
Saying this may be the most business-friendly Legislature for years to come, Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, wants to ask voters to let lawmakers limit how much judges and juries can award to accident and malpractice victims...

2009-12-17T07:06:00.001-05:00

Ill. high court could rule on medical malpractice
CBS 2, Chicago (Associated Press) - Dec 17, 2009
...The court said it could rule Thursday on whether damage awards in medical mistakes may be capped. The General Assembly adopted caps in 2005 as a way to keep doctors from fleeing the state because of rising insurance rates...

Opinion - Paul Harrington: Tort reform would cut insurance cost
The Burlington Free Press, VT - Dec 17, 2009
...Addressing the costs of malpractice insurance and a tendency to over-treat patients in order to avoid lawsuits is a much-needed approach that will ultimately benefit patients, health care professionals and the American taxpayer.

Opinion - Vince Zarate: To control health costs, limit lawsuits
The Trentonian, Trenton, NJ - Dec 17, 2009
...What is missing from the current hodgepodge of proposals before Congress is a measure to control the thousands of medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors, hospitals and other health care providers...

South Florida tops ATRA judicial hellhole list
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Dec 16, 2009
...ATRA, which defines hellholes as areas that have reputations for uneven justice, said in addition to South Florida its six worst, in order, included West Virginia; Cook County, Ill.; Atlantic County New Jersey and Beyond; New Mexico appellate courts; and New York City...

2009-12-16T06:56:00.001-05:00

OB/GYNs less willing to take on risky patients, procedures
FierceHealthcare - Dec 16, 2009
...What's driving these doctors to change their practices? The malpractice situation in this area of medicine. OB/GYNs are among the top three specialties in the rate of medical malpractice cases...

Opinion - Janet Golden: History echoes in care crisis
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Dec 16, 2009
...Meanwhile, low rates for Medicaid services and high malpractice-insurance costs may well lead even more practitioners to stop providing obstetric services to those in need...

Opinion - Richard Stacy: Sen. Michael Bennet's elitism
The Denver Post, CO - Dec 16, 2009
...Medical malpractice rates are driving costs out of sight and doctors out of practice. Reasonable caps need to be placed on non-economic damages...

Lawsuit activity costs may rise 3% this year, study says
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Dec 15, 2009
...with the potential for increases in the areas of employment practices and medical malpractice, as well as litigation associated with professional services errors and omissions in the wake of the financial crisis, Towers Perrin said it is estimating that U.S. tort costs will increase 3 percent in 2009, an additional 4 percent in 2010 and 6 percent in 2011...

Group names new 'judicial hellholes'
Business Insurance - Dec 15, 2009
...Other jurisdictions on the list of what the Washington-based tort reform group considers to be the “most unfair civil court jurisdictions” include South Florida; West Virginia; Cook County, Ill.; and Atlantic County, N.J...

2009-12-15T07:40:00.001-05:00

Editorial: Laws defined by elected judges
The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, MS - Dec 15, 2009
Once again, trial lawyers and the state's business and medical interests are at odds over a wrongful death lawsuit and disagree over whether the state's tort reforms over the last decade are being undermined...

Bill would limit rate hikes for medical malpractice insurance
The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ - Dec 14, 2009
The Senate Commerce Committee today approved a bill to limit how much medical-malpractice insurance rates can increase year to year...

Blagojevich signed caps on damages bill into law
The Record, Edwardsville, IL - Dec 14, 2009
More than four years since medical malpractice reform was enacted in Illinois, stakeholders anxiously await a state Supreme Court decision on its constitutionality...

Opinion - Nint Weiss: No hasty health care reform
Forbes.com - Dec 14, 2009
...What of tort reform? Under pressure, President Obama said he is willing to let the states look into it, but the House bill's federal funding to support states that conduct "medical liability alternative" studies is only available if these experimental projects do not "limit attorneys' fees or impose caps on damages." ...

Opinion - J.G. Preston: Insurance companies reap benefits of medical negligence caps
California Progress Report - Dec 14, 2009
...Medical malpractice insurance companies continue to raise premiums even as their payouts go down. At the same time, there is no correlation between the cost of malpractice premiums that physicians pay, and the cost of health care insurance for individuals...

2009-12-14T07:38:00.002-05:00

Ohio case could increase physician liability risk
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Dec 14, 2009
...The high court will decide whether patients can sue for additional damages in medical liability claims if they had more than a 50% chance of recovery before the alleged negligence...

Doctor shortage will worsen
Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Cheyenne, WY - Dec 13, 2009
...High medical malpractice costs also make it unlikely that aging doctors would consider working part-time, Lucas said. There's no such thing as a part-time insurance plan, and doctors would have to pay the full rate even if they saw patients one day a week...

Opinion - Luis E. Cespedes: Yes: Lifting the limits on medical malpractice would only enrich trial lawyers
The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, CA - Dec 13, 2009
...Currently, the premiums paid by neurosurgeons in California is around $50,000. Without caps, they would be two to three times higher. Florida physicians pay $250,000 premiums...

Opinion - Walter T. Clark:; No: Arbitrary caps on malpractice cases unfair to victims of carelessness
The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, CA - Dec 13, 2009
...Just as doctors should be fairly compensated, so should the victims of those who are careless. Our system should provide a level playing field and seek deterrents as well as fairness.

Editorial: Do medical malpractice caps fit?
The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, CA - Dec 13, 2009
...Most important are quality controls in medical procedures, reliable records available electronically and making sure operations are done on the right patient and on the right part of the patient's body...

CBO stands by estimate tort reform will save taxpayers billions
LegalNewsline.com - Dec 12, 2009
...said as much as $54 billion could be saved over the next 10 years if Congress enacts legal reforms including a $250,000 cap on damages for pain and suffering and a $500,000 cap on punitive damages and restricting the statute of limitations on malpractice claims...

2009-12-11T07:06:00.001-05:00

Opinion - James B. Dolan: Doctors: Less red tape, more focus on patients
Orlando Sentinel, FL - Dec 11, 2009
,,,Another critical flaw in the legislation is that it does not address medical liability reform, an essential cost-containment element that has been shown to significantly lower health-care costs...

Factbox - U.S. Senate action on health bill amendments
Reuters - Dec 10, 2009
...A measure by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, and 18 other senators that would repeal federal antitrust law exemptions for the health insurance and medical malpractice insurance industries that have existed since 1945...

Senators talk schedule; CBO eyes medical malpractice
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Dec 10, 2009
...The CBO now believes tort reform could cut malpractice insurance costs 10%, Elmendorf writes. Earlier, the CBO had estimated the reduction would be about 6%...

Legislatures cap damages: Minorities, union workers hardest hit
PointofLaw.com - Dec 10 2009
One of the pending cases in five states challenging medical damage caps is Klotz v. Shapiro before the Supreme Court of Missouri...

2009-12-10T07:02:00.002-05:00

Editorial: Online information helps patients
News & Record, Greensboro, NC - Dec 10, 2009
...In fact, malpractice settlements and criminal records already are available at county courthouses. But few people are likely to make a special trip there to check up on a doctor. Having that information accessible online is far more convenient...

Opinion - David M. Herszenhorn: News and notes on the health care debate
El Paso, Inc., El Paso, TX - Dec 10, 2009
...Fourth, we need legal reform, including moving malpractice into specialty courts where experts decide the standard of care...

Opinion - Martin Anderson: Creating a health-care GM
The Providence Journal, Providence, RI - Dec 10, 2009
...By leaving the for-profit malpractice-lawsuit industry intact, Congress will effectively scare most health -care practitioners into following what they think the emperor wants...

Lawmaker wants caps on jury awards to accident and malpractice victims
The Verde Independent, Cottonwood, AZ - Dec 9, 2009
...Harper said that imposing limits on what has to be paid out will help Arizona's "business climate.' He particularly noted the malpractice caps Texas enacted in 2003. "I understand doctors are just flocking there,' Harper said...

2009-12-09T07:11:00.001-05:00

Senate may repeal health insurers' antitrust exemption
The News Journal, Wilmington, DE - Dec 9, 2009
... and medical malpractice insurers have been exempt from federal antitrust laws designed to protect consumers and encourage competition. A group of senators, including Sen. Ted Kaufman, D-Del., wants to change that....

Opinion - Charles M. Arlinghaus: Legislators have huge problems to solve
The Union Leader, Manchester, NH - Dec 9, 2009
...The Superior Court ruled that legislators couldn't use $110 million in a medical malpractice trust fund because it doesn't belong to the state. That decision could conceivably be reversed by the Supreme Court...

Health care issues: Medical malpractice lawsuits
Forbes.com (Associated Press) - Dec 8, 2009
...THE ISSUE: Would restrictions on medical malpractice lawsuits mean cheaper health insurance?...

2009-12-08T07:14:00.000-05:00

Malpractice reports are easier to find
The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC - Dec 8, 2009
...The N.C. Medical Board announced Monday that it has expanded its Web site to include malpractice settlements or judgments and criminal records for its 35,000 licensed physicians and physician assistants...

Opinion - John Brinson: Use market-based measures to fix health care, not government
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA - Dec 8, 2009
...Fourth, mandate that medical malpractice liability laws be reformed to stop defensive medicine and the lawsuit game that adds billions to the cost of health care every year...

2009-12-07T06:59:00.002-05:00

Obama urges Dems to pass health care
Burlington County Times, Willingboro, NJ – Dec 7, 2009
… Lawmakers also voted down a measure by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., to limit plaintiff lawyers' fees in medical malpractice cases, a politically fraught issue that pits Republicans against Democrats. That vote was 32-66…

Opinion – Thomas F. Gamba and Hector J. Lombana: Medical malpractice reform steers debate off course
Miami Herald, FL – Dec 7, 2009
… It now appears initiatives aimed at curbing medical malpractice claims and awards will be included as part of the bills for broader changes, and these med-mal tort reforms are likely to be a significant boon for doctors and their insurers but a heavy burden for injured patients and their families…

Opinion – Marc K. Siegel: The don’t-check list
New York Post, NY – Dec 7, 2009
… But as no less an authority than Dr. Howard Dean, the former Democratic Party chairman, has admitted, there's a simple reason why none of the ObamaCare bills try to address medical-liability reform: The lawyers just have too much power in Congress…

Opinion – Andrew Damiani: He wants to give this speech
The Reporter, Lansdale, PA – Dec 7, 2009
…The first step toward health reform will be tort reform; malpractice insurance is a safety net not a lottery…

Blog: A “public option compromise” that’s not?
TIME – Dec 6, 2009
… Amendments that would have altered the bill were all voted down, including proposals to scrap huge sections entirely and provisions to limit the tax deduction for insurance company executive employees and cap plaintiffs' lawyers' fees in malpractice cases…

Senate rejects health bill pay cap amendment
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ – Dec 6, 2009
…Members of the Senate also voted 32-66 against Senate Amendment 2927, an amendment offered by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., that would have capped medical malpractice awards going to plaintiffs' attorneys to one-third of the first $150,000 in compensation awarded…

Obama rallies Democrats on healthcare overhaul
New York Times, NY – Dec 6, 2009
…Republicans uniformly oppose the bill, saying it would bring too much government intrusion into the $2.5 trillion healthcare system. They are urging far more modest measures that aim to reduce premiums by limiting medical malpractice law suits and allowing insurance companies to sell policies across state lines…

Lawmaker wants voters to cap damage awards
The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, AZ – Dec 5, 2009
Saying this may be the most business-friendly Legislature for years to come, Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, wants to ask voters to let lawmakers limit how much judges and juries can award to accident and malpractice victims…

Opinion – Michael Getnick: Enough with the tort reform myths
New York Daily News, NY – Dec 5, 2009
…Repeated studies have shown that approximately 100,000 people die each year due to medical malpractice in our nation's hospitals…

Leahy wants antitrust law to apply to insurers
The Burlington Free Press, VT – Dec 4, 2009
…For more than 60 years, health and medical malpractice insurers have been exempt from federal antitrust laws designed to protect consumers and encourage competition. A group of senators led by Sen. Patrick Leahy wants to change that…

2009-12-04T07:05:00.001-05:00

Health insurance group wants rising medical costs slowed down
The Detroit News, MI - Dec 4, 2009
...In addition to outlining firm and measurable cost-containment goals, the legislation also should seek to reform the medical malpractice system and increase penalties to prevent people from only seeking insurance when they get sick...

Ask AP: Thorium fission, health care costs
The Associated Press - Dec 4, 2009
...Doctors want the health care legislation to address malpractice, but trial lawyers — generous campaign contributors to Democrats — are trying to stave off any major changes. The outlook for such reforms in the future is uncertain.

Senate clears first two amendments to healthcare bill
Baltimore Sun, MD - Dec 3, 2009
...Thursday, a group of 10 conservative and liberal budget experts issued a joint statement endorsing proposals for more taxes on high-end "Cadillac" health plans, a more powerful commission to cut Medicare spending and changes to medical malpractice law...

2009-12-03T06:46:00.001-05:00

Revenue shortfall threatens state budget
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA - Dec 3, 2009
...The previous fiscal year ended June 30 with a whopping $3.25 billion deficit, forcing the Legislature and Mr. Rendell to reduce spending by cutting many programs, closing some historic sites, laying off more than 700 state workers and wiping out some one-time revenue sources, such as the $750 million Rainy Day Fund and a $700 million fund that helped doctors pay their malpractice insurance...

Opinion - Jack Markowitz: Big left in government puts squeeze on all others
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA - Dec 3, 2009
...Recently renamed the American Association for Justice, it spends millions to head off reform of the "lawsuit lottery" in medical malpractice cases. Consumers would save billions if that lobby backed off...

U.S. senators line up amendments for health bill
Reuters - Dec 2, 2009
...A measure by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, and 18 other senators that would repeal federal antitrust law exemptions for the health insurance and medical malpractice insurance industries that have existed since 1945...

Poll shows desire for tort reform in health care package
LegalNewsline, Chicago, IL - Dec 2, 2009
A majority of Americans say tort reform measures should be taken to drive down healthcare costs, a new poll shows...

2009-12-02T07:12:00.002-05:00

Senators express hope for a health reform bill
Washington Post, DC - Dec 2, 2009
...GOP lawmakers also are expected to propose significant changes to medical malpractice laws...

Malpractice system turmoil
Times Union, Albany, NY - Dec 2, 2009
...Several task forces have been convened to address the rising premiums, but they failed to find a resolution because of friction between the medical community and trial lawyers. The Legislature froze premiums for the past few years to protect doctors...

Editorial: House bill punishes states with capped medical lawsuit costs
The Detriot News, MI - Dec 2, 2009
...The bill passed by the U.S. House is worse. It punishes those states, such as Michigan, that have adopted caps on "pain and suffering damages" and limit attorneys' fees in malpractice cases...

Editorial: Limits needed on malpractice lawsuit awards
The Messenger, Fort Dodge, IA - Dec 2, 2009
...Malpractice reform preserves the rights of patients who have suffered from health care mistakes, while limiting the outrageously high awards that add noticeably to health care costs. The only reason many liberal lawmakers oppose such limits is their concern about offending deep-pockets contributors.

State revenue continues to lag behind projections
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA - Dec 1, 2009
...The previous fiscal year ended June 30 with a whopping $3.25 billion deficit, forcing the Legislature and Mr. Rendell to reduce spending by cutting many programs, closing some historic sites, laying off more than 700 state workers and wiping out some one-time revenue sources, such as the $750 million Rainy Day Fund and a $700 million fund that helped doctors pay their malpractice insurance...

Repeal vote nears on health insurers' antitrust exemption
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Dec 1, 2009
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said an amendment to repeal the antitrust exemption that exists for health and medical malpractice insurers will be offered during action on proposed health care reform legislation...

Trial lawyers take their message underground
Wall Street Journal, NY - Dec 1, 2009
If some version of tort reform ultimately gets tucked into a passed health-care bill, it won’t be because the trial lawyers didn’t get out the message — at least in one of the more widely trafficked corridors in our nation’s capital...

2009-12-01T06:51:00.001-05:00

Berks congressmen say they favor health care changes but oppose House-passed bill
Reading Eagle, Reading, PA - Dec 1, 2009
...He said a bill needs to eliminate insurers' ability to refuse coverage to people because of pre-existing conditions, reform medical malpractice law and remove the insurance industry's exemption from anti-trust laws...

$20M Oklahoma jury award cap is sufficient, study says
The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK - Dec 1, 2009
...The task force was formed as part of House Bill 1603, which was approved during this year’s legislative session Among other things, the bill sets a noneconomic cap of $400,000 for all negligence cases, but the cap may be lifted if a judge or jury finds there’s a permanent physical injury, catastrophic injury or gross negligence or recklessness...

Senate begins health care debate amid calls for tort reform
LegalNewsline.com - Nov 30, 2009
...The Senate plan, opposed by all 40 Republicans, lacks legal reforms such as a cap on medical malpractice awards -- something sought by doctors...

Senators begin offering amendments
New York Times, NY - Nov 30, 2009
...Mr. McCain, in a floor speech, quickly moved from criticizing the proposed Medicare changes to complaining about a lack of tough provisions on medical malpractice lawsuits. “Where is any meaningful medical malpractice reform anywhere in this 2,000-page bill?” he asked...

Malpractice rate hike
New Hampshire Business Review, Manchester, NH - Nov 30, 2009
Hundreds of New Hampshire physicians and surgeons are going to see an increase in their medical malpractice insurance premiums for 2010...

2009-11-30T02:36:00.001-05:00

Democrats look for deal as Sen. debate begins
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA - Nov 30, 2009
...Democrats also expect a series of amendments on hot buttons such as abortion, medical malpractice and immigration...

Senate debate on health bill set to begin Monday
Wall Street Journal, NY - Nov 29, 2009
...Republicans are also likely to offer at least one amendment limiting medical malpractice lawsuits...

Rendell's legacy largely in place after 7 years
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA (Associated Press) - Nov 28, 2009
...His Web site also reminds people that the minimum wage was increased and doctors got help with malpractice insurance costs...

2009-11-27T09:27:00.001-05:00

Editorial: New Yorkers pay a high price for liability litigation
The Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY - Nov 27, 2009
...46 states have enacted some kind of tort reform, 36 of them imposing a cap on pain and suffering awards. PRI reports that after caps were put in place in Texas, physicians’ premiums dropped sharply and doctors began returning to underserved areas...

Opinion - Charles Krauthammer: A sickly health care debate: Do this the right way - one reform at a time
New York Daily News, NY - Nov 27, 2009
...In the 4,000-plus pages of the two bills, there is no tort reform. Indeed, the House bill actually penalizes states that dare "limit attorneys' fees or impose caps on damages." Why?...

Opinion - Dr. Richard Feldman: True health care reform requires a multi-pronged attack
South Bend Tribune, IN - Nov 26, 2009
...Although relatively less significant, tort reform is necessary to reduce the extremely high malpractice premiums and the added costs from health care providers practicing "defensive medicine."...

2009-11-25T03:39:00.001-05:00

Claims against Phila. VA up to $58 million
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Nov 25, 2009
...Twenty-seven men who received prostate brachytherapy at the Philadelphia VA and four veterans' wives are seeking a total $58 million in damages for radiation errors at the hospital from 2002 to 2008, according to documents obtained by The Inquirer through a Freedom of Information Act request...

House health care bill expands state AGs' powers
LegalNewsline - Nov 24, 2009
...Sections of the $ 1 trillion Affordable Health Care for America Act would be a boon to the nation's trial lawyers, a key Democratic constituency, allowing their ranks to sue businesses through state attorneys general over alleged medical-related violations...

Docs case for tort reform gets harder to make
National Public Radio - Nov 24, 2009
...But malpractice insurance costs are actually stabilizing in most parts of the country, even as Congress lurches along on legislation some say should do more to address it...

2009-11-24T06:30:00.000-05:00

Tough choices on health care
Chicago Tribune, IL - Nov 24, 2009
...The Senate bill does not change medical malpractice law, though it encourages states to explore alternatives to civil litigation...

States might examine tort reform
Quad-City Times, Davenport, IA - Nov 23, 2009
Even though a national change to medical malpractice law is not likely to happen at this point in the health-care debate, some states might soon experiment with tort reform...

2009-11-23T06:58:00.001-05:00

Key speech on medical errors
Times Union, Albany, NY - Nov 23, 2009
...Braley, 52, a trial lawyer who specializes in malpractice, said he had two minutes to prepare his speech. As he spoke, he was taunted by Republicans shouting "trial lawyer."...

Top priorities for health care
Wall Street Journal, NY - Nov 23, 2009
...Task-force members came up with priorities of their own, including holding patients accountable for their own behavior, in the face of an alarming rise in obesity, coupled with high smoking rates. And dealing with medical-malpractice costs and tort reform was once again on the CEO agenda...

Liability premiums stay stable, but insurers warn this might not last
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Nov 23, 2009
...An overall dip in the frequency of lawsuit filings -- 30% or more in some parts of the country -- remains the driving force behind the premium moderation, said Lawrence E. Smarr, president and CEO of the Physician Insurers Assn. of America...

Bill needs bipartisan cost-cutting strategies
The Spokesman Review, Spokane, WA - Nov 22, 2009
...If either side gets what it wants, costs in this area won’t be contained. Texas implemented a $250,000 cap on medical malpractice awards, which is the holy grail of tort reformers...

Opinion - Amy H. Handlin: Reduce medical liability costs before more specialists flee N.J.
Gloucester County Times, NJ - Nov 22, 2009
...Even as debate about national health care reform rages across the country, we in New Jersey must confront a homegrown crisis: Our state is losing doctors at an alarming rate...

Opinion - Jennifer S. Bard: There's no proof tort reform reduces health costs
Houston Chronicle, TX - Nov 21, 2009
...There is no evidence to suggest that limiting the rights of individuals to bring lawsuits will either lower the cost of health care or increase its quality. In fact, were this true, Texas would have the cheapest and best health care in the nation...

2009-11-20T07:00:00.001-05:00

Sanders, Leahy praise health care bill
The Burlington Free Press, VT - Nov 20, 2009
...Leahy said he was mostly pleased with the bill but will seek to add an amendment to end the antitrust exemption for health and medical malpractice carriers. “Momentum continues to build for including this repeal in the final plan,” Leahy said...

Opinion - John Agnew: What it is like to be sued for malpractice - a harsh experience
The News-Press, Fort Myers, FL - Nov 20, 2009
...The medical associations will suggest that all suits are frivolous, while the trial lawyers will suggest that all are serious and warranted. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between...

Senate health bill: Antitrust lurks in the wings
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 19, 2009
...“The attempt to set aside McCarran-Ferguson protections continues to be a ruse for distracting attention from much needed tort reform, which is not addressed in a meaningful way by the Senate bill,” Smarr says...

Industry groups: The Reid bill won't work
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 19, 2009
...The bill includes many restrictions on insurers, such as a provision that would make all health insurance rate increases subject to state review, but it does not include any kind of medical malpractice reform, NAIFA says...

2009-11-19T06:36:00.001-05:00

AP Poll: Support for curbs on malpractice lawsuits
The Associated Press - Nov 19, 2009
...The AP poll found that 54 percent of Americans favor making it harder to sue doctors and hospitals for mistakes taking care of patients, while 32 percent are opposed. The rest are undecided or don't know...

2009-11-18T07:13:00.002-05:00

Editorial: Cost of health care is world's problem
Observer-Reporter, Washington, PA - Oct 18, 2009
...Certainly, market forces are at work, and in this country there are other factors, such as our legal system that forces doctors to pay exorbitant premiums for malpractice insurance....

NY suer system stinks
New York Post, New York, NY - Oct 18, 2009
...The report particularly singled out New York's highest-in-the-nation medical-malpractice costs for doctors and hospitals, and charged that litigation contributed to the closure of the maternity ward at Long Island College Hospital...

Opinion - Dan Walters: California's 1988 insurance battle could see 2010 reprise
Sacramento Bee, CA - Oct 18, 2009
...It was a big battle in the decades-long "tort war" over rules governing who can sue whom for personal injuries, including auto accidents – a war fought in the Legislature, on the ballot and in the courts and whose financial stakes are untold billions of dollars...

Opinion - Anthony Tarricone: Blaming lawyers a bogeyman to stop health reform
CNN - Oct 18, 2009
...Instead of saving money for consumers, tort reform has served as a sop to the insurance industry, allowing them to make record profits off the backs of doctors and patients...

CEOs seek to spur jobs through small business, education
Wall Street Journal, NY - Oct 17, 2009
...CEOs also highlighted reforming medical malpractice rules, which critics have long said inflate health-care costs by pushing doctors to play defense and over-treat patients. While President Barack Obama has touched on the idea of reforming such rules, the executives' plan indicates they want something more aggressive because they seek a limit to awards...

2009-11-17T07:25:00.001-05:00

Editorial: Hidden in the bill
The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, VA - Nov 17, 2009
...The kicker? These incentives are not available to any state with a cap on damages or attorneys' fees in tort claims. Virginia, you're out...

Opinion - Kerry Picket: The AMA still does not get it
The Washington Times, DC - Nov 17, 2009
...The AMA did adopt a resolution in Houston last week addressing the much needed Medical Liability Reform for doctors, but this happened eight years after the AMA helped push the misnamed Patients' Bill of Rights legislation through Congress...

Opinion - Mark Moretti: Health care bill's solutions represent opposite of founding fathers' vision
Newark Advocate, Newark, OH - Nov 17, 2009
...Tort reform has been begged for by doctors who pay costly malpractice premiums and sometimes order tests to protect themselves from lawsuits as much as for patients...

Tort reform: Does saying "I'm sorry" help?
Medscape Today - Nov 16, 2009
...Yet physicians are reluctant to apologize after adverse events because their words can be used in malpractice litigation as admissions of fault. Apology, from the physician's point of view, is a slippery slope...

2009-11-16T06:35:00.002-05:00

Maryland high court to consider expert witness rule
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Nov 16, 2009
Maryland's highest court will decide the scope of a state law setting minimum requirements for expert witnesses in medical liability cases -- a rule physicians say has been key to keeping unfounded lawsuits from clogging the courts...

Opinion - John C. LeVine: Real reform in nine necessary steps
Washington Square News, New York University, New York, NY - Nov 16, 2009
...Implement standards for tort law and medical malpractice. The issue here isn't necessarily hard caps but rather clear guidance on damages...

Pennsylvanians show a profusion of confusion on health care reform
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA - Nov 15, 2009
...There also was a lot of support for limiting medical malpractice awards, with 70 percent saying they'd like to see such limits included in the final legislation...

New York Bar Assn. president decries tort reform proposals
LegalNewsline, Chicago, IL - Nov 15, 2009
...Association President Michael Getnick, in a letter to his state's two senators, said how medical malpractice cases are handled should be left up to the individual states...

Opinion - Arnold Garcia Jr.: A veteran's take on health care battle
Austin American-Statesman, TX - Nov 15, 2009
...medical malpractice insurance rates driven by high jury awards also contribute to rising health care costs. Texas adopted a medical malpractice cap in 2003. How well it has worked depends on who you ask...

GOP: Health bill doesn't rein in lawsuits
United Press International - Nov 14, 2009
..."We could start lowering costs by reining in lawsuits in America," Kirk said. "We are the most litigious country on Earth. Lawsuit reforms can save billions in healthcare costs alone."...

Opinion - Steve and Cokie Roberts: The buck stops nowhere
The Jamestown Sun, Jamestown, ND - Nov 14, 2009
...Trial lawyers, who pour millions into Democratic coffers, are adamantly opposing revision of the medical-malpractice system, another money-saving option...

2009-11-13T07:09:00.001-05:00

Congressman speaks about dairy farmers, health care reform
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, PA - Nov 13, 2009
...Thompson, a health care administrator for 28 years, said the bill is a "hazard" to U.S. citizens. "We need to increase competition by allowing health care bidding across state lines and allowing groups to form together to bid for lower health care, and lowering waste in medical malpractice," he said...

Lungren: House health bill violates Lemon Law
LegalNewsline, Chicago, IL - Nov 13, 2009
...Instead, the bill approved by the House would allow the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to give grants to states that overhaul their medical malpractice systems so long as their reforms don't in any way limit attorneys' fees or impose caps on damages...

Opinion - John Foley: Getting serious about health care reform
Chicago Tribune, IL - Nov 13, 2009
...Compensation for pain and suffering needs to be made obsolete. Attorneys' fees for medical malpractice need to be paid on a sliding scale so the award is directed at the victim of malpractice and not at the legal profession...

Editorial: Health-care bill
Evansville Courier & Press, Evansville, IN - Nov 13, 2009
...Many observers, this newspaper included, believe comprehensive medical malpractice reform would take significant costs out of the system by limiting damages, as many states do, and by limiting insurance that physicians must purchase...

2009-11-12T07:03:00.002-05:00

Doctors split over legislation
Quad-City Times, Davenport, IA - Nov 12, 2009
...A surgeon thinks competition should be increased among private insurers and steps should be taken to decrease the cost of medical malpractice insurance...

Six progressive complaints about House health bill deserve attention
The Capital Times, Madison, WI - Nov 12, 2009
...It does not address interstate portability, as Medicare does. It does not address real medical malpractice insurance reform...

Health insurers' antitrust exemption becoming a focus of reform debate
The Denver Post, CO - Nov 12, 2009
...Medical malpractice insurers, which would lose their exemption under the bill, sometimes share financial information much like auto and home insurers, reporting "historical loss data" specific to particular cities to a centralized service bureau...

Trial lawyers discount effects of medical malpractice litigation
LegalNewsline.com, Chicago, IL - Nov 12, 2009
...The American Association for Justice, which represents plaintiffs' attorneys, has released a series of Internet videos that seeks to justify malpractice lawsuits against doctors, which critics say is responsible partly for the nation's skyrocketing health care costs...

Trial lawyers fight back on medical malpractice
CBS News - Nov 12, 2009
...According to Smith, the group has only bought Washington-area online ads thus far, "though a source close to the group says they're ready to go on air if fluid talks turn toward tort reform."

Editorial: ...And a buried tort bomb
Wall Street Journal, New York, NY - Nov 12, 2009
...Read on, however, and you come to this nugget: The state only qualifies if its new law "does not limit attorneys' fees or impose caps on damages." ...

Editorial: Someone call a doctor
Orlando Sentinel, FL - Nov 12, 2009
...The Congressional Budget Office has said curbing high lawsuit awards and the defensive medicine that doctors practice to avoid them could save $54 billion over 10 years. Senate Democrats mustn't ignore this potential savings, even if it means angering their trial lawyer overlords...

2009-11-11T07:20:00.000-05:00

As reform takes shape, dread, hope heighten
The Arizona Republic, Phoenix, AZ - Nov 11, 2009
...Many doctors complain the House bill doesn't offer much in medical-malpractice reform. Nor does the bill address deep Medicare cuts to physicians starting next year....

Survey: U.S. docs want tort reform
PointofLaw.com - Nov 10, 2009
...92 percent of American physicians want liability relief included in the health bill, and 85 percent "said the threat of medical malpractice litigation is their primary hindrance to practicing medicine as they see fit." ...

Insurance industry sees potential for gains, losses
Charleston Regional Business Journal, SC - Nov 10, 2009
...Congress could reduce health care costs by adopting tougher restrictions on medical malpractice lawsuits and encouraging use of electronic medical records, Brown said. Both steps could help physicians avoid unnecessary tests and costs...

2009-11-10T07:04:00.002-05:00

Who voted for what and why
The Times Herald, Norristown, PA - Nov 10, 2009
...Dent criticized the legislation for failing to include “medical liability reform,” which he said will “protect trial lawyers at the expense of patients.”...

Holden lone holdout among Dems in health care vote
Morning Call, Allentown, PA - Nov 10, 2009
...About the only things Dent said he supports in the legislation are boosting wellness and prevention efforts and increasing technology use to improve efficiency. He backs a Republican plan that would attempt to lower costs by allowing employers to purchase insurance across state lines, form collectives to negotiate better insurance prices and limit the size of malpractice awards...

'Fuzzy math' could drive health care bill's cost higher
Washington Times, DC - Nov 10, 2009
...The list of projects ranges from the "No child left unimmunized against influenza" project to 10 programs in the Indian health care system. There are also programs to encourage people to go into nursing and to spur states to restrain medical-malpractice lawsuits...

Politics aside, doctors universally fed up with insurers
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Nov 10, 2009
...The AMA itself came out in support of the House bill. But yesterday, some prominent AMA members were pushing to rescind that backing because the bill doesn't address matters such as malpractice reform. In any case, doctors' disenchantment with the insurance industry seems to transcend all other views...

Republicans hope for influence in Senate health debate
Miami Herald, FL - Nov 9, 2009
...Moderate Republicans also are expected to seek more incentives for disease prevention, such as provisions to encourage people to lose weight or stop smoking. They also expect to make a big push to revamp medical malpractice policies, a longtime favorite issue for Republicans...

Resolution to rescind AMA endorsement of House health care bill voted down
Washington Times, DC - Nov 9, 2009
...The group which drew up the resolution to withdraw the AMA's endorsement managed to gather the two-thirds votes necessasry to schedule the voting on the withrawal resolution today. Many doctors were upset the AMA had endorsed health care legislation that lacked medical malpractice reform and included cuts to Medicare physician reimbursements.

10 insurance trade groups hit health bill wording on FTC role
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 9, 2009
...Another provision of the legislation would repeal the antitrust protection accorded health and medical malpractice insurers by the McCarran-Ferguson Act...

Insurance groups object to health care proposals
Business Insurance, New York, NY - Nov 9, 2009
...It is also not served by limiting the protections the McCarran-Ferguson Act provides for pro-competitive insurance activities that are subject to scrutiny by state insurance regulators, especially those that facilitate greater market access by medical malpractice insurers.” ...

Ohio medical malpractice premiums keep dropping
FierceHealthcare.com - Nov 9, 2009
Medical malpractice premiums in Ohio have continued to fall for the fourth straight year, a trend which both state regulators and insurers attribute to a mix of policy changes, liability limits and safety initiatives...

Court halts Illinois suspension of medical liability insurer PLICA
Claims Journal, San Diego, CA - Nov 9, 2009
...A Chancery Court Judge in Cook County Illinois has halted a state insurance department order that prohibited a medical liability insurer from writing new business in the state...

2009-11-09T07:04:00.002-05:00

Health bill faces Senate heat
Wall Street Journal, NY - Nov 9, 2009
...Republicans described the bill as an unprecedented power grab that would raise -- not lower -- medical costs and further cripple the economy. They lambasted the legislation for creating new taxes and failing to curb frivolous medical-malpractice lawsuits...

What the House bill would mean for various groups
Wall Street Journal, NY - Nov 9, 2009
...The bill's provisions on medical liability are far short of what most doctors want. It creates new incentive payments to states that have alternative laws aimed at cracking down on frivolous malpractice lawsuits...

Texas reforms highlighted in Lawsuit Awareness Week
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Nov 9, 2009
...Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement that the changes helped curb the kind of excessive litigation that drove up the cost of physicians' liability insurance premiums and made it difficult for doctors to continue practicing...

Editorial: Healthcare's hurdles
Los Angeles Times, CA - Nov 9, 2009
...The GOP proposal is devoted mainly to curbing the growth in healthcare spending by reducing state mandates on insurance providers, restricting damages in medical malpractice cases and rewarding states for keeping rates down...

Editorial: Health-care reform, GOP-style
Washington Post, DC - Nov 9, 2009
...Finally, the proposal would change the medical malpractice system -- a good idea, but done in the wrong way...

Medical malpractice reform omitted from House health care bill
PointofLaw.com - Nov 8, 2009
...The lack of medical liability reform in the House health care bill and the political power of trial lawyers were two points argued late Saturday when Republicans moved to recommit the health care bill, H.R. 3962, to committee...

Editorial: Miss. made a plan, will nation follow?
The Natchez Democrat, MS - Oct 8, 2009
...In 2004, the work that began here led to sweeping reforms of the state’s tort laws. To those local physicians who lobbied hard to change the state’s legal reputation, we’re forever grateful...

National reform needed, local doctor says
The Natchez Democrat, MS - Oct 8, 2009
...Though the number of medical malpractice claims has dropped by 91 percent from its peak, and the state’s largest medical liability insurer has dropped its premiums by 42 percent...

Another TARP: Trial Attorney Relief Program
Southeast Texas Record, Beaumont, TX - Nov 7, 2009
...Despite abundant evidence that frivolous medical malpractice suits contribute mightily to the rising cost of health care, the bill touted by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi does nothing to deter such suits. In fact, it seeks to insulate them from reform...

2009-11-06T07:12:00.002-05:00

Details on health care bills in House, Senate
Associated Press - Nov 6, 2009
...HOW IT'S PAID FOR: No new taxes, but Republicans would get savings by capping medical liability awards, stepping up efforts to fight Medicare and Medicaid fraud...

Employers cope with insurance shifts
The Gazette, Gaithersburg, MD - Nov 6, 2009
...He said he has yet to see much in the federal legislation to cut costs, such as medical malpractice reform. "In any case, something has to be done," Rogers said.

Editorial: GOP offers cheaper approach to health reform
The Detriot News, MI - Nov 6, 2009
...It uses market-based principles and does not include government subsidies or a public option. But it would trim costs through strict limits on medical malpractice lawsuits...

Editorial: Chloroform for tort reform
Washington Times, DC - Nov 6, 2009
...In the weak guise of offering incentives to states to create "alternative medical liability" laws, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's big-government health plan actually discourages the most widely used and effective means of reining in lawsuit abuse...

AMA uneasy in support of ObamaCare
Forbes.com - Nov 5, 2009
...Left open were two major issues: reforming the medical malpractice system and changing the formula that Medicare uses to determine how much to reimburse physicians...

AMA supports House health care bill despite dissent
Houston Chronicle, TX - Nov 5, 2009
...“I continue to be perplexed at the short-term focus of the AMA on this issue — over which they are willing to swallow hook, line and sinker the rest of the Pelosi bill,” Cornyn said. “The Pelosi bill not only fails to include common-sense medical liability reform for physicians, but it includes a new government program that will have all the same problems we've seen with Medicare.”...

Texas AARP joins national group in endorsing healthcare bill
Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX - Nov 5, 2009
..Officials with the Texas group said Thursday that it believes that the bill has some important provisions but that it finds some terms unacceptable. It has pushed, for example, for inclusion of a federal cap on medical malpractice cases, much like the one in Texas, and has sought a provision that would allow physicians to own medical facilities...

Health reform bill would call for insurer scrutiny, says AIA
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 5, 2009
Legislation to repeal the antitrust exemption for health and medical malpractice insurers has been modified to include scrutiny of those insurers practices, an insurance trade group said...

AIA: New health bill antitrust provision may be a trap
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 5, 2009
...Unlike the earlier versions of the antitrust repeal language, the latest version does not introduce new, undefined statutory terms such as “price-fixing” or “market allocation,” Rethmeier says. But the latest provision would let federal antitrust laws broadly apply to the “business of health insurance or the business of medical malpractice insurance,” Rethmeier says...

2009-11-05T07:12:00.002-05:00

CBO: Prepublican health plan would reduce premiums, tri deficit
Washington Examiner, DC - Nov 5, 2009
...The Republican plan does not call for a government insurance plan but rather attempts to reform the system by creating high-risk insurance pools, allowing people to purchase health insurance policies across state lines and instituting medical malpractice reforms...

Budget monitor says G.O.P. bill leaves many uninsured
New York Times, NY - Nov 5, 2009
...But Republicans will certainly find aspects of the cost analysis to brag about. The budget office predicted savings for the federal government of $41 billion over 10 years as a result of provisions to limit costs related to medical malpractice lawsuits...

GOP offers choice on health care
Chicago Tribune, IL - Nov 5, 2009
...They are proposing to do so through market-oriented measures that would limit medical malpractice lawsuits, expand the use of tax-sheltered medical savings accounts...

GOP unveils 219-page health proposal
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Nov 4, 2009
...Section 305 would allow medical malpractice punitive damages, but only if there was “clear and convincing evidence that [a provider] acted with malicious intent to injure the claimant, or that such person deliberately failed to avoid unnecessary injury that such person knew the claimant was substantially certain to suffer.”...

Health care dispute: Costs of defensive medicine
The Associated Press - Nov 4, 2009
...Doctors say the hidden costs of the tests along with malpractice insurance and lawsuit awards are major drivers behind the soaring cost of care. Trial attorneys say bad medicine, not lawsuits, is to blame...

Opinion - Morton Kondracke: Medical malpractice...a third way
Courier-Express, DuBois, PA - Nov 4, 2009
There's an important task that congressional moderates can perform on health-care reform besides fighting the public insurance option and containing costs: Find a middle ground on medical malpractice...

2009-11-04T06:59:00.001-05:00

Some experts worry that cost controls in health-care reform are too cautious
Washington Post, DC - Nov 4, 2009
...None of the bills addresses medical liability, even though the Congressional Budget Office has concluded that tort reform could save $54 billion over the next decade...

Reid: Senate not bound by Obama's health deadline
Washington Times, DC - Nov 4, 2009
...The Republicans' plans include allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines; permitting groups of people or businesses to pool insurance purchases; requiring states to subsidize high-risk-insurance pools; and limiting medical malpractice awards. They plan to release the bill later this week, possibly as soon as Wednesday...

Can tort reform help save health care?
Naperville Sun, IL - Nov 4, 2009
...Although Illinois is one of a handful of states that have set a cap on malpractice awards, the Naperville resident is among those who see a limit on settlements for medical wrongdoing as a key element in the overhaul of the nation's health care system...

State: Revenues off $38m so far
Union Leader, Manchester, NH - Nov 4, 2009
...He also criticized the state's attempt to use $110 million in Joint Underwriting Association medical malpractice funds to balance the budget, a move now the subject of a state Supreme Court appeal...

G.O.P. counters with a health plan of its own
New York Times, NY - Nov 3, 2009
House Republicans have come up with an answer to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, drafting an alternative health care bill that would reward states for reducing the number of uninsured, limit damages in medical malpractice lawsuits...

Graham sponsors 'loser pays' medical malpractice bill
Charleston Regional Business Journal, SC - Nov 3, 2009
...The so-called “loser pays” bill, which Graham and U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., sponsored, is meant to reduce the number of frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits, the senators said...

2009-11-03T07:21:00.001-05:00

2 tough health care issues remain in the house
The Associated Press - Nov 3, 2009
...Boehner also said Republicans would propose limits on medical malpractice lawsuits in what he said was an attempt to reduce the cost of coverage...

Opinion - Ingo Angermeier: 'Loser Pays' can fix broken health-care system
The Greenville News, Greenville, SC - Nov 3, 2009
...according a recent report in Healthcare Ledger, defensive medicine is costing the American health-care system between $80 and $100 billion each year, depending on how you slice and dice the numbers...

Opinion - James R. Copland: Tort-Bar treat
New York Post, New York, NY - Nov 3, 3009
...it's hard not to conclude that Pelosi's liability-reform provisions are little more than window dressing -- more designed to protect trial-lawyer profits than to reduce lawsuit abuse...

Opinion - Shirley Svorny: Increasing risk, hurting patients
Forbes.com - Nov 2, 2009
...The advantage of using managed-care arrangements over caps is that this would allow medical professional liability insurance underwriters to continue to provide both oversight and penalties for negligence and substandard care...

2009-11-02T06:38:00.002-05:00

GOP set to propose its own health bill
Wall Street Journal, NY - Nov 2, 2009
...It would, among other things, propose new limits on medical malpractice lawsuits and make it easier for individuals and small businesses to pool resources to purchase insurance...

Boehner: GOP health care plan to target lawsuit abuse
LegalNewsLine, Chicago, IL - Nov 2, 2009
House Republicans plan to offer an alternative to the Democrats' proposal for a national health care overhaul that contains tort reform, House Minority Leader John Boehner said Sunday...

Health reform bills light on medical liability reform
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Nov 2, 2009
...A recent report by the Congressional Budget Office may give liability reform supporters a needed boost, but opposition from congressional Democrats and trial lawyers continues to intensify...

Litigation stress: Being sued is personal as well as professional
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Nov 2, 2009
...increasingly liability insurers and professional medical societies are instituting programs designed to help physicians deal with the emotional rigors of litigation stress...

Opinion - Roy Shockey: Lawsuit reform is a key to Texas' economic stability
Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, TX - Nov 1, 2009
...Working with Texans for Lawsuit Reform, state legislators passed and Texans approved in 2003 limits on awards in medical malpractice suits, establishment of proportional responsibility and "hold harmless" laws for Good Samaritans who render aid to victims of accident or illness...

Opinion - Abhilash Samuel: Lack of tort reform costing Pennsylvania
The Philadelphia Bulletin, PA - Nov 1, 2009
As Washington continues debating how to curb health care costs, one area largely ignored is medical malpractice reform. However, ample evidence from states indicates tort reform is central to overhauling the healthcare system...

Opinion - William O'Shea: Pennsylvania court race could have critical impact
The Philadelphia Bulletin, PA - Nov 1, 2009
...A recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that Pennsylvania has been especially hard-hit by malpractice insurance problems and that rising legal costs are the greatest factor contributing to their financial burden. As this cycle of rising costs and fleeing physicians continues, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is expected to be at the center of a debate now national in scope...

Medical lawsuits radically declining
The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, TN - Nov 1, 2009
...malpractice cases and payments are on a sharp downward trend locally and nationally. A major reason: For all the reform efforts by Congress, states like Tennessee and Mississippi already have adopted their own laws clamping down on the litigation...

Today marks the first day of new Oklahoma laws
The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK - Nov 1, 2009
...Most elements of a comprehensive lawsuit reform measure, agreed to in the last days of this year's legislative session after more than two years of bickering, are now law...

Boehner: Dem health reforms 'reckless'
UPI - Oct 31, 2009
...Instead, he said, Republicans will offer "our better solutions" to make healthcare more affordable and accessible, including the creation of state health insurance pools, allowing states to create their own "innovative reforms" and banning "junk" medical malpractice suits.

PA congressman gives thumbs down to health care bill
WHAG-TV, Hagerstown, MD - Oct 30, 2009
...He prefers cost-cutting options such as creating competition across state lines and reforming medical malpractice...

Rep. Joe Pitts addresses health care reform
Central Penn Business Journal, Harrisburg, PA - Oct 30, 2009
...Medical malpractice (reform) is a very important one. That adds about $125 billion a year to the health care costs...

2009-10-30T08:32:00.001-04:00

House leaders unveil health bill
Wall Street Journal, NY - Oct 30, 2009
...The bill also addresses medical liability, calling for new incentive payments to states that have alternative medical liability laws aimed at cracking down on frivolous malpractice lawsuits...

Health bill would aid Jerseyans
Courier-Post, Cherry Hill, NJ - Oct 30, 2009
...Lance said he wants to amend the bill by adding limits on medical malpractice awards in legal disputes and eliminating the medical device tax, which he said would disproportionately affect a state that serves as the world's "medicine chest."...

Survey: Health care reform is confusing
WBAY-TV, Green Bay, WI - Oct 30, 2009
...Fifty-nine percent favor limiting medical malpractice settlements. Fifty-seven percent like the idea of requiring everyone to carry health insurance...

Malpractice confidentiality clauses could put others at risk
WISN-TV, Milwaukee, WI - Oct 30, 2009
...Confidentiality clauses are the norm when malpractice lawsuits are settled. But some say keeping details of those cases secret puts patients at risk...

American Physicians profit off 12 percent
Lansing State Journal, Lansing, MI - Oct 30, 2009
American Physicians Capital Inc.'s profits fell 12.5 percent in the third quarter. The East Lansing-based medical liability insurer reported on Thursday it earned $9.8 million, or 91 cents per share in the quarter that ended in September...

H.R. 3962 - The House health bill - weighs in at 1,990 pages
National Underwriter Life & Health - Oct 29, 2009
...Health insurers and medical malpractice insurers have been trying to ward efforts to end their access to the McCarran-Ferguson Act insurance antitrust exemption. In H.R. 3962, an exemption repeal provision starts on page 150...

2009-10-29T08:59:00.000-04:00

Opinion - Stanley Goldfarb: The malpractice problem
CBS News (Weekly Standard) - Oct 29, 2009
...There is much that can be done to make our system more efficient. Tort reform is a great place to start...

Opinion - Art Veneris: Start with a clean sheet of paper
The Brownwood Bulletin, Brownwood, TX - Oct 29, 2009
...The GOP is in favor of tort reform, allowing for lower monetary penalties following a malpractice case. Is this a good idea? Heck, yes!...

2009-10-28T07:39:00.001-04:00

The influence game: Doctors' lobby in tricky spot
The Associated Press - Oct 28, 2009
...In the process, though, some doctors say the group has been willing to sacrifice what many of them consider crucial priorities: placing new restrictions on medical malpractice lawsuits and fighting any proposal that hands the government more control over how doctors practice and earn money....

Opinion - Charles M. Arlinghaus: Time has run out on the budget
Union Leader, Manchester, NH - Oct 28, 2009
...The state is counting on taking $110 million from the malpractice fund known as the Joint Underwriting Agreement (JUA). Some of the money is for last year and some for the current budget, but all of it would have to be replaced...

Summit aims at spending
Concord Monitor, NH - Oct 28, 2009
...Arlinghaus estimated that the budget will be $208 million short in 2010-11 if the state Supreme Court rules against the state in a $110 million case regarding a medical malpractice fund...

Opinion - Bob Buckley: Health insurance companies exempt from anti-trust laws
The Examiner, Independence, MO - Oct 28, 2009
...Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont has introduced legislation about three weeks ago called the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act, which removes the exemption or immunity health insurers enjoy. The law would also apply to medical malpractice insurers. Hurrah!...

2009-10-27T08:25:00.001-04:00

Republicans impatient with leaders, awaiting healthcare alternative
The Hill, Washington, DC - Oct 27, 2009
...Republicans are quick to note they support various healthcare reform initiatives, such as medical liability reform. But getting most, if not all, of the Republican Conference to sign onto a specific plan would be very challenging...

Everett says more tough budget battles lie ahead
Williamsport Sun-Gazette, PA - Oct 27, 2009
...The $27.8 billion plan, which eventually passed, avoided broad-based tax increases, but ended up raiding the state Rainy Day fund, tobacco settlement funds and the state fund used for helping doctors with malpractice costs...

Editorial: Tort reform is not the answer
The Des Moines Register, IA - Oct 27, 2009
...These Americans have a right to pursue their complaints in the U.S. court system. Doctors do not deserve special protections from Congress in the event of such complaints.

Opinion - Dr. Gerry R. Williams Jr.: Direct access to specialty care must be part of health care reform
The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, PA - Oct 27, 2009
...Finally, we believe that medical liability reform is the surest method to bring immediate cost savings to the health care delivery system and is necessary at the state and national level...

2009-10-26T07:19:00.001-04:00

Editorial: Democrats' insurance industry payback is an empty gesture
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, MO - Oct 26, 2009
...Within the week, a House committee approved the Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009, which would make health and medical malpractice insurers subject to federal laws that prohibit "price fixing, bid rigging" and other anti-competitive behavior...

Opinion - Kevin Pho: Any malpractice reforms should put patients first
USA Today - Oct 26, 2009
...Many physicians advocate caps on malpractice awards, but this does little to ensure that patients are compensated fairly or expeditiously, nor will it improve safety...

Opinion - Carson E. Beadle: Health care on the move, but not where it should be
Naples Daily News, Naples, FL - Oct 25, 2009
...There is no attempt to rein in medical liability through tort reform so that protective medicine will continue unabated, draining as much as 8 to 10 percent of total health costs for questionable diagnoses and therapies...

Opinion - Cecily Hastings: Conservative feels left out of health reform debate
The Sacramento Bee, CA - Oct 25, 2009
...It also has been shown that lowering medical malpractice insurance rates reduces both the use and cost of medical services. And yet the bills currently before Congress don't include these reforms...

Opinion - Brooks Jackson: New study finds limiting malpractice liability could cut health costs
Nashua Telegraph, Hudson, NH - Oct 25, 2009
...So while there is now clear evidence that limiting malpractice liability can save money, it’s not nearly as much as some proponents have claimed. And on the question of whether patients would suffer, the jury is still out.

Opinion - Sally C. Pipes: Understanding all the facts about the uninsured
Washington Examiner, DC - Oct 25, 2009
...Finally, we must reform the medical malpractice system. According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, doctors practice about $210-billion worth of defensive medicine each year because they are afraid of being sued...

New malpractice idea in health care debate
Kansas City Star, MO (Associated Press) - Oct 24, 2009
President Barack Obama’s willingness to consider alternatives to medical malpractice lawsuits is providing a boost for taking such cases out of the courtroom and letting experts, not juries, decide their merits...

Opinion - Nick A. Frentz: In response: Lawsuit cap won't bring savings
The Free Press, Mankato, MN - Oct 24, 2009
A recent Free Press editorial suggested that we take a closer look at the federal government imposing legal reforms like damage caps in medical malpractice cases (“Lawsuit Limits are Worth Looking At”, Oct. 15, 2009). Fair enough; here is one lawyer’s view...

2009-10-23T07:13:00.000-04:00

Negotiators mull public option in health care bill
The Associated Press - Oct 23, 2009
...Varney also said that repeal of current exemptions covering the industry would "allow competition to have a greater role in reforming health and medical malpractice insurance markets than would otherwise be the case."...

Democrats push to end insurers' antitrust exemption
National Public Radio - Oct 23, 2009
..."Repealing the McCarran-Ferguson Act would allow competition to have a greater role in reforming health and medical malpractice insurance markets than would otherwise be the case," she said. Varney's assertion was roundly rejected by University of Arkansas business professor Lawrence Powell, who testified on behalf of the medical malpractice insurance industry...

Controversial tort reform looming
Tulsa Business, OK - Oct 22, 2009
...Changes deal with capping damages on medical malpractice suits, codifying summary judgment rules, and providing for determining the validity of class action suits...

2009-10-22T06:56:00.001-04:00

Medical malpractice reform needed in healthcare bill, senator and doctors say
CNSNews.com, Alexandria, VA - Oct 22, 2009
As Senate Democrats meet behind closed doors to produce a single health care bill, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is repeating his call for medical liability reform...

Revenue shortfall may hurt Oklahoma's plans for tort reform
The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City, OK - Oct 22, 2009
A continued revenue shortfall could affect whether the state can afford to create a fund to pay damages in physician negligence cases, a key component of the comprehensive lawsuit reform bill passed earlier this year...

House limits antitrust break for insurers
Courthouse News Service, Pasadena, CA - Oct 21, 2009
The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday 20-9 to limit the antitrust exemption health insurance companies currently enjoy...

Senate Dems. push for end to med-mal insurers' antitrust exemption
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Oct 21, 2009
...Lawrence E. Smarr, president of the Physician Insurers Association of America, based in Rockville, Md., said the announcement of the move to terminate the antitrust exemption “is not a surprise. We expected this but are still going to try to get our line of [medical malpractice] business removed from the bill.”...

Editorial: Health Care: Tort reform needed
The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, FL - Oct 21, 2009
...But it isn't difficult to come up with a fair solution to the malpractice problem. Congress should look at the Texas experience...

2009-10-21T07:59:00.003-04:00

Doctors offer 'second opinion'
The Omaha World-Herald, NE - Oct 21, 2009
...Another of the coalition’s principles is that the “surest and quickest way” to slow down rising health care costs is through “comprehensive medical malpractice reform.” Most experts seem to agree that at least some of the increase in health care costs is the result of doctors practicing defensive medicine, or ordering unnecessary tests to guard against possible lawsuits...

Opinion - Newt Gingrich & Wayne Oliver: Civil justice reform still has a place
Politico.com - Oct 21, 2009
...On Oct. 9, the Congressional Budget Office pronounced that a tort reform, or civil justice reform, package would reduce the federal budget deficit by an estimated $54 billion over the next 10 years. At the Center for Health Transformation, we believe that is a low estimate and just a drop in the bucket in terms of savings if civil justice reforms were enacted...

Opinion - Roy H. Thomas, MD: Extend Ohio's success with tort reform
The Cincinnati Enquirer, OH - Oct 21, 2009
...Tort reforms works. Between 2002 and 2005, the OSMA supported 20 medical liability reforms enacted by the Ohio General Assembly. These reforms have brought stability to a medical liability marketplace that had been in crisis, with rapidly rising premiums...

Opinion - David Holden: Office visit: Real reform, real access
The Journal Record, Oklahoma City, OK - Oct 21, 2009
...Just last legislative session, Oklahoma Republicans and Democrats worked together to pass reform. The bill capped noneconomic damages, reformed class-action lawsuits and at the same time, allowed Oklahomans who have truly been wronged to have their day in court...

New malpractice idea in health care debate
The Associated Press - Oct 20, 2009
...The Obama administration is keeping all its options open. A stronger medical malpractice initiative could help the health care bill get votes from moderates and conservatives. It could also alienate some liberals. The political balance is unclear...

Opinion - Scott Harrington: Competition and health insurance
Wall Street Journal, NY - Oct 20, 2009
...Repealing the antitrust exemption would also not lower the cost of malpractice insurance, or prevent future malpractice insurance crises, such as those that occurred in the mid-1970s, mid-1980s, and earlier this decade. It would instead tend to reduce rate accuracy and undermine competition in already fragile malpractice markets...

Opinion - John McClaughry: Health care and the free market
Bennington Banner, Bennington, VT - Oct 20, 2009
...In most states, many doctors -- especially obstetricians, anesthesiologists and neurosurgeons -- face staggering medical malpractice premiums. This results from courts and juries imposing extravagant pain and suffering awards...

2009-10-20T07:19:00.001-04:00

Reid offers doctors a deal
The Hill, Washington, DC - Oct 20, 2009
...Reid also asked that doctors ease up on demands for medical malpractice reform during the upcoming healthcare debate. Democrats have traditionally resisted calls for tort reform, which trial attorneys — a reliable base group — staunchly oppose...

Analysis: Courting doctors in health care battle
The Associated Press - Oct 20, 2009
..."We continue to press for significant medical liability reform because we know that is a very important contributor to unnecessary health care costs," Dr. J. James Rohack, president of the AMA, said in an interview in which he declined repeatedly to say whether the organization had been asked to back off...

Republicans seek health bill change
Reuters - Oct 19, 2009
...Conservatives are seeking changes that would limit medical malpractice liability and do away with any requirement for consumers to buy a health insurance policy, said Sen. Charles Grassley...

Baucus: Public option still on the table
CBS News - Oct 19, 2009
...Baucus said that Republicans and other Democrats will have opportunities to add other amendments on the Senate floor and that he expects someone to introduce an amendment regarding medical malpractice reform.

Med-mal insurers plan a fight to keep antitrust exemption
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Oct 19, 2009
Medical malpractice insurance trade groups said they are gearing up to fight a proposal to cancel the antitrust exemption they are now afforded under the McCarran-Ferguson Act. The Senate Democratic leader ship has said they will seek the change for medical practice insurers along with a repeal of the exemption for health insurers...

2009-10-19T07:20:00.001-04:00

Pols focus on lawyer health
New York Post, NY - Oct 19, 2009
...There's a big reason why Democratic lawmakers in both Washington and Albany dodge malpractice issues like the plague -- they don't want to offend the deep-pocketed trial lawyers who fund their campaigns, medical-industry sources say...

A political game of 'win the docs'
The Washington Independent, DC - Oct 19, 2009
...GOP leaders, meanwhile, want to amend the bill by attaching offsets as well as provisions addressing medical malpractice reform...

CBO: Malpractice reform would save $11B
Business First of Buffalo, NY - Oct 19, 2009
The Congressional Budget Office has concluded that medical liability reforms, such as capping awards for noneconomic damages, would reduce total national health care spending by 0.5 percent...

Scaling back justice?
CBS News - Oct 18, 2009
...Today, says the medical profession, fear of lawsuits has pushed medical malpractice insurance through the roof, and forced doctors to practice what's called "defensive medicine," meaning more tests and higher costs. Howard wants malpractice cases decided not by a jury of laymen and women, but by special courts...

For state, a $110 million question
Concord Monitor, NH - Oct 18, 2009
...Losing the money, which Gov. John Lynch and legislative leaders want to seize from a state-established medical malpractice fund, would create a big hole in the state's budget as revenues continue to slump...

Editorial:Medical jeopardy
Baltimore Sun, MD - Oct 18, 2009
...if lawmakers can't stand behind existing limits on malpractice insurance costs, the public will be left footing much bigger medical bills - assuming they can find a doctor still in business to treat them.

Medical malpractice debate draws crowd to Mt. Gretna
Lebanon Daily News, Lebanon, PA - Oct 17, 2009
Although the issue of limiting jury awards for pain and suffering in medical-malpractice lawsuits is not currently a hot-button legislative topic, close to 100 people turned out Saturday in Mt. Gretna for a Citizens' Caucus-sponsored debate about it...

Editorial: Texans know tort reform works
Southeast Texas Record, Beaumont, TX - Oct 17, 2009
...The medical malpractice tort reform that Congressional leadership is wrongly excluding from their ill-advised healthcare overhaul has already been tested. Congressional leaders should embrace the effectiveness of tort reform. It's been tried and it works...

2009-10-16T07:26:00.001-04:00

Lawyer to state: Fund isn't yours
Concord Monitor, NH - Oct 16, 2009
Lawyers for the state and for policyholders of the Joint Underwriting Association's medical malpractice fund argued before the state Supreme Court yesterday over who controls the $110 million sought by Gov. John Lynch and the Legislature to balance the state budget...

Opinion - Donald H. Taylor Jr.: Sticking points for a final bill
The News & Observer, Raleigh, NC - Oct 16, 2009
...The most likely issue on which they could exact influence is medical malpractice reform. The president provided an opening in his September speech to Congress...

Opinion - Patrick Durusau: Medical malpractice reform?
The Covington News, GA - Oct 16, 2009
...If we abolish medical malpractice as we know it, physicians (not the government) would have to develop better ways to discover why "mistakes" happen and ways to prevent them from happening again...

Doctors begin TV ads pressing Congress on Medicare
The Associated Press: Oct 15, 2009
...Meanwhile, two people familiar with a meeting Wednesday among top Senate Democrats, administration officials and members of several doctors' organizations said Reid told physicians at the session to "back off" on another priority — curbing lawsuits for medical malpractice...

Obama official questions need for insurance antitrust exemption
Insurance Journal, CA - Oct 15, 2009
...However, the Department of Justice official stopped short of backing repeal of the insurance exemption for medical malpractice and health insurers, a move that is under consideration in Washington...

2009-10-15T07:27:00.001-04:00

Insurers' exemption is said to boost costs
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Oct 15, 2009
...Varney, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, told the Senate Judiciary Committee that ending the exemption would "allow competition to have a greater role in reforming health and medical malpractice insurance markets." ...

Dems vs. insurance industry, Round II
The Washington Independent, DC - Oct 15, 2009
...But a 1945 law, called the McCarran-Ferguson Act, carves out an exception for health and medical malpractice insurers, which instead are regulated by states...

Drop health insurer antitrust exemption, top Dems. urge
National Underwriter, Hoboken, NJ - Oct 14, 2009
...The legislation in both chambers would repeal the antitrust exemption accorded health insurers and medical malpractice insurers through McCarran-Ferguson. It was recently introduced by Sen. Leahy and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee...

Editorial: Health bill: Now the real dealing begins
The Gazette, Colorado Springs, CO - Oct 14, 2009
...Tort reform, putting a lid on medical malpractice awards, would be one approach. Allowing people to buy insurance across state lines would be another...

Opinion - Robert P. Charrow: Fighting defensive medicine
Washington Post, DC - Oct 14, 2009
...if Congress cannot wait for the results of these studies before legislating, I recommend that it require any insurer providing policies as a health-insurance co-op to offer health insurance with two premium levels: one with an ordinary premium, and a second parallel policy with a significantly lower premium. Those buying the lower premium policies would waive their right to tort litigation...

2009-10-14T06:56:00.000-04:00

Opinion - Morton Kondracke: Reinventing the wheel on health care reform
The Mercury, Pottstown, PA - Oct 14, 2009
...On the other hand, doctors have their educations paid for, so they don't have student loan burdens, and medical malpractice insurance costs are low because claims are not taken to court...

Opinion - Tom Wilemon: Numbers shift on malpractice costs
Memphis Daily News, TN - Oct 14, 2009
...The Congressional Budget Office has done an about face in estimating the impact of medical malpractice expenses on health care costs with a new report that says limits on lawsuit awards could save as much as $54 billion over the next 10 years...

Opinion - James R. Copland: Here's what is stopping tort reform
The Washington Examiner, DC - Oct 14, 2009
...It's a myth to think that liability reform alone could cure the nation's health-care problems, but it is equally a myth to think it doesn't matter. Unfortunately, because of the trial lawyers' stranglehold on Congress, meaningful liability reform, this year, is simply wishful thinking.

Medical malpractice litigation blamed for rising health care costs
Madison/St. Clair Record, Edwardsville, IL - Oct 13, 2009
...Medical malpractice litigation has driven up U.S. health care costs dramatically, translating into higher costs for consumers, a study said Tuesday. The report by the Manhattan Institute's Center for Legal Policy said the direct cost of medical malpractice litigation is roughly $30.4 billion annually...

Editorial: Tort reform
Salt Lake Tribune, Salt Lake City, UT - Oct 13, 2009
...There's a reason why there are medical malpractice suits. People, including doctors, make mistakes. Still, one reason for malpractice reform is to reduce the number of unnecessary tests and procedures that doctors order to protect themselves in case of malpractice suits...

2009-10-13T07:54:00.001-04:00

Experiments in tort reform
New York Times, NY - Oct 13, 2009
...In fact, states already have tried a number of approaches. Most have yielded mixed results. Here’s a quick overview of those attempts...

Panelists: Health care reform? Yes. Rush it? Why?
Patriot-News, Harrisburg, PA - Oct 13, 2009
...Delozier also criticized Gov. Ed Rendell on medical malpractice reform. "Our current governor is against any kind of medical malpractice reform. ... It will depend on our next governor," Delozier said...

Health care reform debate coming to a head
Sun Gazette, Williamsport, PA - Oct 13, 2009
...Redmond noted that medical liability reform has escaped much of the discussion, in part because of the powerful lobbying efforts of trial lawyers...

Editorial: Tort retort
Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA - Oct 13, 2009
...But if it is not the seismic shift Republicans would have it be, neither is it so insignificant as the trial-lawyer lobby would suggest. Tort reform should remain a part of the discussion.

Dem lawmaker says tort reform will be part of health bill
The Hill, Washington, DC - Oct 12, 2009
...Medical malpractice reform will likely be part of the final health bill to pass through Congress, one House Democrat said over the weekend...

Opinion - Don Surber: $250,000 suddenly is an insult
Charleston Daily Mail, WV - Oct 12, 2009
...Medical malpractice reform worked in West Virginia. We were running out of emergency room doctors. The Charleston Gazette and the trial lawyers screamed for years that it was “unfair” to cap damages — until their hospital’s emergency room was downgraded to Level III care...

Opinion - Candace Talmadge: Shoddy business practices cause malpractice insurers' woes
The North Star National, Byron Center, MI - Oct 12, 2009
...In short, do not believe a word the insurance industry says about a supposed medical malpractice crisis. Its members could cut their already low exposure risk in half, if they weren’t so busy collecting inflated premiums to notice...

2009-10-12T07:13:00.002-04:00

If a health bill passes, benefits not immediate
USA Today - Oct 12, 2009
...Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch and other Republicans back changing malpractice laws as a tool to lower health care costs. The Congressional Budget Office last week estimated that changes to these laws, such as limiting the amount of money juries can award to patients for botched care, would reduce budget deficits by $54 billion over a decade.

Certificate-of-merit law struck down by Washington Supreme Court
American Medical News, Chicago, IL - Oct 12, 2009
...The Washington Supreme Court dealt a setback to physicians by striking down a tort reform measure aimed at curbing meritless medical liability lawsuits. But doctors, in a separate ruling, won a reprieve when the high court rejected an attempt by trial lawyers to expand physician liability...

Casey: $250K cap on malpractice damages 'insulting'
CNN - Oct 11, 2009
A moderate Pennsylvania Democrat came out strongly Sunday against the possibility of imposing a cap on medical malpractice damages as part of comprehensive health care reform legislation currently under consideration in Congress...

Physician tax proposal has some temperatures rising
Crain's Detroit Business, MI - Oct 11, 2009
...Fox said the Legislature also should approve Senate Bill 858, which provides additional limited medical malpractice liability protection for doctors treating emergency patients...

Physician misconduct often tolerated, analysis finds
Dallas Morning News, TX - Oct 11, 2009
Seven years ago, after a scathing series of stories in The Dallas Morning News, the Texas Medical Board promised to crack down on bad doctors...

Editorial: Montana sets example on medical tort reform
The Billings Gazette, MT - Oct 11, 2009
...Montana is one of only a dozen or so states with some kind of medical litigation screening panel. The Montana panel provides a speedy, unbiased opinion to both the patient/family and to the care provider. The panel doesn't bar the filing of a lawsuit, but provides professional insight on the merits of a complaint...

Opinion - Richard C. Dreyfuss: Big trouble awaiting the next Pa. governor
The Philadelphia Inquirer, PA - Oct 11, 2009
...Separately, the state's unfunded retiree medical liability stands at about $10 billion, against which the state is contributing only about $746 million. Since the annual assumed interest rate is 8.5 percent, the state is not even covering the annual interest cost of $850 million on this growing debt...

Opinion - Mark L. Thomsen: Dream on: Tort reform is a myth
Green Bay Press-Gazette, WI - Oct 11, 2009
...One of the biggest issues for many opponents of health-care reform is "medical malpractice reform." This is a red herring...

Leaner government emerges from Pa. budget battle
Press & Sun-Bulletin, Vestal, NY (Associated Press) - Oct 10, 2009
..* Transfers $808 million from medical malpractice insurance coverage funds...

Malpractice reform would save $54B: study
New York Post, NY - Oct 10, 2009
...Savings would be realized by reducing "defensive" medicine costs that doctors use to avoid litigation and through lower malpractice payments. That means doctors would order fewer unnecessary but costly lab tests...

Report: Reining in lawsuits would cut deficit
The Washington Times, DC - Oct 10, 2009
...Previously, CBO focused its analysis on similar tort reform measures on malpractice insurance premiums. This was the first time CBO based its analysis on how tort reform would affect doctors' use of health care services, based on recent research.

Opinion - William Busse: CBO confirms that tort reform will reduce health care costs
Examiner.com - Oct 10, 2009
...The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report on Friday which says that medical malpractice reform could reduce the cost of healthcare by 54 billion dollars over 10 years...