PROFESSION

AMA vows united voice in battle for tort reform

Medical courts and state legislative action were also on the medical liability agenda at the AMA Interim Meeting.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Jan. 5, 2004.

Honolulu -- After lengthy debate on the best strategy for getting federal tort reform enacted, state medical and specialty societies say they are united and will speak with one voice rather than pursue legislation that would "divide or diminish the voice of the House of Medicine."

Physicians at the American Medical Association House of Delegates 2003 Interim Meeting last month stopped short of saying they would not pursue specialty-specific legislation that could give protection to obstetricians or other high-risk specialties that have been particularly hard-hit by medical liability insurance costs and unavailability, leaving the door open to look at and evaluate that type of bill.

During 90 minutes of debate, some state and specialty societies supported the idea of pursuing specialty-specific tort reform that could potentially garner the 60 votes needed in the Senate to avoid a filibuster, pass the bill and send it to conference committee. A Senate bill could then be hashed out with a 2003 House-passed bill that included all specialties and a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages, proponents argued.

But many physicians testified that pursing a specialty-specific bill could ultimately result in costs and insurance problems being passed on to other specialists who would not be protected in a final bill. And they worried that politicians who felt like they had already addressed the problem would not take up the issue again if other specialties then sought federal tort reform as well.

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