GOVERNMENT & MEDICINE

Ohio liability climate improved but still in crisis

The state's Medical Malpractice Commission finds that tort reform measures, including a cap on noneconomic damages, are having an effect and should remain in place.

By Mike Norbut, AMNews staff. May 23/30, 2005.

Ohio may be showing signs of recovery two years after passing tort reform legislation, but the state is still in a liability crisis, according to the final report of the state's Medical Malpractice Commission.

The commission, governed by the Ohio Dept. of Insurance, recommended in its April report that tort reform measures remain intact and be given a chance to take effect. Among the law's provisions is a $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages.

While there has not been enough time to fully gauge the legislation's impact, other states with noneconomic damage caps have seen their liability insurance markets calm down, the report concluded.

"Based on testimony and data from states that do have tort reform in place, the commission fully expects tort reform to have a stabilizing impact on the medical malpractice market in Ohio over time," the commission wrote.

Since instituting a cap on noneconomic damages, Ohio has seen two firms enter the state's medical liability insurance market, and premiums have started to go up less dramatically.

Even though the law was passed in 2003, no challenge to the statute has made it to the state's Supreme Court to determine its constitutionality, said Wayne Wheeler, MD, an emergency and occupational medicine physician from Portsmouth, Ohio, and chair of the Ohio State Medical Assn.'s Task Force on Legislation.

"Insurance companies aren't ready to change their rates until we get a ruling that it's constitutional," said Dr. Wheeler, a member of the nine-person commission. "The situation has improved some, but that's not to say 10% to 20% [rate] increases will be acceptable."

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