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Why tort reform is needed: Trauma drama in Las Vegas

The closure of the city's only top-level trauma center demonstrates the seriousness of a growing professional liability problem in Nevada and most other states.

Editorial. July 29, 2002.

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Earlier this month brought the incredible news that the sole level 1 trauma center in Las Vegas was forced to close for 10 days due to Nevada's professional liability crisis. It is one more jarring reminder of the seriousness and urgency of the work ahead for the medical profession in advocating for reform of the nation's out-of-whack tort system.

University Medical Center's Trauma Center serves not only the nearly 1.5 million population of the Las Vegas area, but it's the only level 1 center in the state. It is reportedly among the busiest in the nation. The nearest equivalent facility is well over an hour away by air transport, and several times that crucial period by land. UMCTC is reopening under a stop-gap plan to garner the minimum number of orthopedic surgeons to keep the facility open. Making them temporary part-time employees sidesteps the liability issues that prompted the closing -- as employees, they are covered by a cap on damages -- and the hope is to allow time for a special session of the state Legislature to address the state's liability crisis.

Recall that Nevada was among 12 states that the AMA cited during its June Annual Meeting as being in full-blown liability crisis. This dirty dozen also includes Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and West Virginia (30 other states are, to some degree, at risk of joining the list). It was at that meeting that AMA delegates voted tort reform the Association's highest legislative priority. [...]