Bush to AMA: Tort reform a must

The president also lays out his plan to reform Medicare to include prescription drug coverage.

By Joel B. Finkelstein, AMNews staff. March 17, 2003.

Washington -- Physicians attending an annual AMA advocacy conference were elated to hear President Bush and lawmakers promise to push for liability reform this year.

"There are too many frivolous lawsuits against good doctors, and the patients are paying the price," Bush said, generating a standing ovation by his physician audience. The federal government loses $28 billion a year from the direct cost of liability insurance and the indirect cost of defensive medicine, he added. "Something which affects our budget so significantly requires a national solution."

Bush and Republican leaders in Congress have advocated for legislation that would cap awards for noneconomic damages at $250,000. A House bill, based on a California law that physicians say has been successful in keeping liability insurance premiums in check, also would limit the proportion of awards that trial lawyers could claim.

Speaking at the meeting, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD (R, Tenn.), vowed to address the issue this year. Liability reform legislation was passed by the House last year but never made it to the Senate floor.

Dr. Frist called the court system the wrong place to address medical errors. "The way you fix a system's failure is to fix the system," he said, adding that the way to fix the system is to allow physicians to discuss problems without having trial lawyers use it against them.

Rep. James Greenwood (R, Pa.), who has spearheaded liability reform in the House, said he hoped to send his bill, the HEALTH Act, to the Senate by mid-March. He said opponents would try to slow the passage of the bill, but that arguments for tort reform are stronger than ever.