How can we resolve the liability crisis?

Leaders in medicine, law and insurance suggest solutions.

By AMNews staff. Nov. 4, 2002.

There has been much debate over the past 18 months about what has caused medical liability insurance rates to soar in some states. There has been even greater debate about whether state governments and/or the federal government should intervene. With the U.S. House of Representatives passing a bill that calls for a $250,000 limit on noneconomic damages this fall and a companion bill waiting to be heard in the U.S. Senate, American Medical News asked leaders of the American Medical Association, the Assn. of Trial Lawyers of America and the Insurance Information Institute to answer the following question in 650 words or less.

What do you believe is the solution to the medical liability insurance affordability and availability problems that physicians in numerous states are encountering?

AMA's Dr. Coble "Implement the reforms" -

President, American Medical Association

The solution to the medical liability crisis is really quite simple: Implement the reforms that have worked in California for more than a quarter century.

By stabilizing professional liability costs and premiums, these reforms have preserved patients' access to medical care. Patients do not have to worry that their physicians will close their practices or retire early because they cannot afford liability insurance. [...]