AMA to Denver Post: Malpractice limits

Denver Post
Letter to the editor

To the Editor:

For two decades, common-sense medical liability reforms in Colorado have protected access to care for patients. State Sens. Bob Hagedorn and Josh Penry are right to oppose pending legislation that would weaken existing medical liability reforms. These changes, pushed by the trial lawyers who have the most to benefit from changing the law, would threaten effective reforms that preserve patients' access to care and to the courts.

Medical liability reforms work. Pregnant women in Colorado have greater access to physicians who deliver babies because obstetricians in the state pay $100,000 less in medical liability premiums than physicians in states without effective reforms. Because of its reforms, Colorado has been able to avoid the medical liability crisis that has affected so many other states. Any legislative efforts that could destabilize Colorado's medical liability market should be rejected.

Sincerely,

Jeremy A. Lazarus, MD
Board Member, American Medical Association