Nevada enacts bold tort reforms

Legal challenges are still to come though, so any impact on physicians' liability insurance premiums will likely be determined by the courts and insurers.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Aug. 26, 2002.

Nevada physicians hope their state's passage of a tort reform package will go a long way toward solving the high-profile medical liability insurance crisis that has plagued them this year.

The legislation -- which Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn signed into law Aug. 7 -- calls for many of the reforms that the American Medical Association has said are needed to help change states' medical liability climates. It places a $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases, creates a shorter statute of limitations and establishes a standard that holds physicians liable only for the damages for which they are responsible.

The law also puts a $50,000 limit on damages for hospitals and physicians who treat trauma patients, creates a medical error reporting system, requires more training for judges handling medical malpractice cases and holds lawyers responsible for costs of frivolous lawsuits.

"We have addressed the issues that brought the crisis," said Lawrence P. Matheis, the Nevada State Medical Assn. executive director. "It takes away the unpredictability of awards."

Nevada is one of 12 states the AMA has identified as being in the middle of a medical liability insurance crisis. Another 30 states and the District of Columbia are seeing signs of trouble, the AMA says.

Physicians in Nevada saw premiums increase by triple digits in the past year, and many insurance companies pulled out of the Nevada market entirely because they believed the risk was too great. In a headline-grabbing development, Las Vegas' and Nevada's only level 1 trauma center shut its doors for 10 days in July because physicians couldn't afford liability insurance. High-risk specialties such as obstetrics, trauma surgery and emergency medicine have been the hardest hit, and some physicians were forced to retire early or stop offering some services. [...]