GOVERNMENT

Miss. doctors hope tort reform brings rate relief -- eventually

Physicians expect the new law to improve the liability climate. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania took another step to strengthen tort laws and other states plan to follow.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Oct. 28, 2002.

Mississippi has joined the growing number of states addressing physicians' medical liability insurance concerns through tort reform. And physician groups are planning advocacy efforts that could push the issue into the spotlight in other state legislatures next year.

Doctors in Mississippi say they know that the law, passed earlier this month, won't give them immediate relief from high liability insurance bills or the challenge of finding a company to write a policy. But, they say, it gives them hope for a better liability insurance climate in the future.

Mississippi is one of 12 states that the AMA identified this year as being in the midst of a medical liability crisis that has physicians leaving the state, retiring early or refusing to provide high-risk procedures. It joins Nevada and Pennsylvania in passing tort reform this year.

"It shows that the state Legislature has listened to the physicians," said Mississippi State Medical Assn. President John Cook, MD. "The message to physicians in training in Mississippi should be that the state will be a good place to stay and practice. And to physicians looking to relocate here, the message is that it will be a more comfortable place to practice."

The law caps noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases at $500,000 for the next eight years. That limit is set to rise to $750,000 in 2011 and then to $1 million in 2017. But with eight years and three elections before the cap rises, physicians hope they will be able to hold it at $500,000. [...]

Full text of AMNews content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.

Access details

Join the AMA