Senate fails on tort reform

The Senate must reconsider legislation to end the ongoing medical liability crisis.

Editorial. Aug. 11, 2003.

The Senate let down not just physicians but also the American people last month when it again failed to pass meaningful medical liability reform.

The nation is in the midst of a liability insurance disaster. Only six states enjoy a stable liability climate. The problem has reached crisis proportions in 19 states -- home to more than 140 million people, AMA research has found.

With insurance priced out of reach, many physicians are retiring early, dropping risky procedures or moving to states with better insurance climates. Who are the ultimate losers? Patients.

When a rural obstetrician-gynecologist's premiums get so high that he must stop delivering babies, it's the woman in labor who suffers because she's forced to drive miles upon miles to a new doctor.

When a neurologist pulls up stakes to move to a state where she can afford liability insurance, it's the patient injured in a car wreck who suffers.

The problem is felt in less obvious ways, too. In defensive medicine, which subjects patients to needless tests and procedures and costs the nation billions. In a mentality that emphasizes fear and punishment instead of prevention of medical errors. In a poisonous atmosphere that discourages medical innovation.

Fortunately, the debate no longer is about whether a crisis exists, but how it should be solved.

The House earlier this year embraced the right solution -- a bill based on California's tort reform model. The law has been working there for 27 years. Liability premiums in the state have increased 182% during that time, compared with a sobering national average of 570%.