Revisiting the crisis in Nevada: Tort reform in need of reform

Doctors hope passage of a fall ballot initiative will improve practice conditions. Trial lawyers say it would only make the situation worse.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Feb. 23, 2004.

Headline-grabbing stories about Las Vegas trauma departments forced to close and Nevada women having a hard time finding obstetricians have died down since state legislators passed tort reform in August 2002. But physicians say the crisis isn't over.

Lawsuits in Las Vegas appear to be on the rise. Statistics gathered by the Clark County Medical Society show that the number of lawsuits filed against health care professionals in the county that Las Vegas calls home increased nearly 36% between 2002 and 2003. There was a 200% increase between 2001 and 2003, according to the statistics.

Trial lawyers say the change stems from the elimination of a screening panel that once reviewed proposed lawsuits before they could be filed. But doctors disagree, saying that the screening panel formerly eliminated one-third of proposed lawsuits and that the volume now being filed exceeds that amount.

Other signs point to a continuing problem. An economic study completed for the National Tax Limitation Committee concluded that tort reform measurers passed in 2002 were missing key reforms that would help keep insurance affordable.

And a company insuring about 125 Nevada physicians announced earlier this year that it would stop renewing policies. It is the third insurer to pull out of the market since tort reform passed.

"We take that as another sign of the ongoing problem," said Las Vegas oncologist Edwin Kingsley, MD, Clark County Medical Society president.

The American Medical Association lists Nevada as one of 19 states with a medical liability crisis. Rising insurance premiums hit Las Vegas doctors the hardest in recent years.