Two Illinois towns take tort reform into their own hands
Their action has mayors statewide talking about the possibility.
By Tanya Albert, amednews staff. Aug. 9, 2004.
Carbondale, Ill. -- Nestled in the wooded acres of southern Illinois, Carbondale isn't exactly small town, but it isn't big city, either. Doctors' offices dot the streets around city hall in this community of nearly 25,000 people. So when high liability insurance premiums began driving physicians from the area, it didn't escape Mayor Brad Cole's attention.
The only two neurosurgeons covering the southern third of the state moved away earlier this year. Family physicians were leaving general practice to serve prison inmates or work at a federal clinic. Some obstetricians and primary care physicians stopped delivering babies.
After the state Legislature let reforms aimed at lowering or at least stabilizing physicians' liability insurance premiums languish this year, Cole decided to try something new: city tort reform. "We had to do something," he said. "We are in a truly desperate situation."
His effort succeeded. The Carbondale City Council July 6 passed an ordinance that includes caps on noneconomic damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice cases. The measure also requires that such lawsuits be filed in the county where the alleged malpractice took place.
Carbondale inspired its neighbor Marion, population 16,624, which managed to pass its ordinance first, on June 28. Nearby Herrin -- home to 11,406 -- passed a resolution supporting Carbondale's action, and Mount Vernon, a community of 16,486, was considering a local ordinance at press time.
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