Illinois, Pennsylvania join in calls for federal tort reform

Physicians rally in Chicago's Daley Plaza and Pennsylvania's Statehouse in Harrisburg.

By Tanya Albert, amednews staff. May 26, 2003.

Chicago -- In the latest of a series of medical liability protests across the country, Illinois physicians on May 13 filled the plaza just outside the courthouse where medical malpractice lawsuits are filed, and chanted "lawsuit reform now."

Thousands of doctors, patients and other health professionals from throughout the state carried signs calling for "U.S. Senate action now," informing people that "Lawsuit abuse costs everyone money" and asking "Who will deliver your baby?" and "Will your doctor be there?"

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Topic: Liability crisis
Region: Northeast
Region: Midwest

"We feel strongly that patients need good care," said John Laude, MD, a nuclear medicine physician from Burr Ridge, Ill., who carried a neon pink sign with black lettering that read: "Trial bar: A good parasite does not kill the host."

"It's terrible," he said. "There is a lottery mentality."

Palos Hills, Ill., obstetrician-gynecologist Gail Miller, MD, said federal tort reform is needed because rising insurance rates could lead physicians who can't afford their premiums to head across the state line to Indiana, where there is tort reform.

Bills are so high "you are working for the insurance company," said Dr. Miller, who was recently notified her premium will jump to $112,500 this year, up from $80,000 last year.

Illinois is among the 18 states the AMA says are in the midst of a liability insurance crisis because doctors in those states are retiring early, discontinuing high-risk procedures or leaving to practice in states where insurance is more available and affordable.

The AMA, the Chicago Medical Society and the Illinois State Medical Society are calling for federal tort reform that includes a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages. The U.S. House of Representatives passed such a bill, but a similar bill sits in the Senate with more than the 50 votes necessary for passage but less than the 60 needed to stop a filibuster. Senators are divided strongly along party lines.

After hearing that, a number of physicians headed down the street to the office of Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D, Ill.), to ask him to support the bill.

"This is not a partisan issue," Chicago emergency physician Neil E. Winston, MD, told the crowd.

Trial lawyers and some consumer groups oppose a cap, saying it takes away patients' rights.

Recent legislation falls short

In Pennsylvania -- also labeled a crisis state by the AMA -- about 3,500 physicians, patients and other health professionals carried their signs to the steps of the state Capitol in early May, asking lawmakers to pass meaningful reform.

Although the Legislature has passed some tort reform measures in the past year, the state still lacks the noneconomic damage cap physicians say is necessary to fix liability insurance problems. The Pennsylvania Constitution prohibits a cap, so the Legislature would have to vote to start the amendment process. Physicians also want caps on sliding fees for attorneys and relief from premiums they pay into a state catastrophic fund.

The rally ended a 10-day period during which thousands of physicians in the state opted not to do elective surgery or hold routine office hours to protest the Legislature's inaction.

They named the grassroots protest "Every Day Is A Sunday," in an effort to show Pennsylvania is headed for a system where there would only be enough physicians to operate skeleton crews, said general surgeon Anthony Coletta, MD, the statewide coordinator for the effort by the Politically Active Physicians Assn. "Stability here is on thin ice," he said.