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Liability reform is everybody's business

AMA Leader Commentary. By Yank D. Coble Jr., MD. Aug. 19, 2002.

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AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

SEE ARCHIVES

A message to all physicians from AMA President Yank D. Coble Jr., MD.

President Bush, we couldn't have said it better ourselves. In a speech before physicians and other health care professionals last month, he issued an important battle cry for the nation, our patients and America's physicians. He said, "Our badly broken medical liability system is responsible for higher costs for patients, for lower quality of care and for decreased access."

For too long, medical liability has been misunderstood as a problem that affects only physicians. In his speech, President Bush made it clear that the abusive medical liability system touches every American. He called on Congress to "get a [national tort reform] bill to me before ... next fall."

What's more, a new proposal, released by the Dept. of Health and Human Services, gives solid evidence in support of the President's proposed solutions. Called "Confronting the New Health Care Crisis: Improving Health Care Quality and Lowering Costs by Fixing Our Medical Liability System," the proposal calls for many of the reforms the AMA has championed for years, including reforms that have worked well in California (http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/litrefm.htm).

California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act, passed in 1974, placed a cap on noneconomic damages, among other measures. According to a recent survey by the Health Care Liability Alliance, more than two-thirds of Americans support such caps. Americans are shocked to learn that pregnant women travel 100 miles to deliver their babies and brain surgery candidates can't find neurosurgeons. Americans, like our President and HHS, believe serious reform is long overdue. [...]