21 reasons why we need tort reform now: The case for states

The number of states in a medical liability crisis is spreading -- and will continue to spread -- unless lawmakers pass meaningful reforms.

Editorial. March 20, 2006.

Tennessee in February became the 21st state to earn the dubious distinction of being added to the American Medical Association's list of states in the throes of a medical liability insurance crisis.

It means that an out-of-control insurance climate is forcing doctors in the Volunteer State to practice what has become known as the three R's: restricting services, retiring early and relocating.

Frighteningly enough, the AMA's list has nearly doubled since its inception in 2002, when just 12 states were in crisis. One other scary change in the list: Originally eight states were OK because they had good reforms, namely reasonable caps on how much juries could award in noneconomic damages. Today, just six states make that list. And that number could shrink even further because it's unclear whether the liability climate in one state, Wisconsin, will remain OK because the Supreme Court there tossed out a cap on noneconomic damages in 2005.

The growing list of states in crisis translates to one thing: Patients who live in those states -- and those traveling through them -- are losing access to care, especially to ob-gyns and those who provide care in emergency situations. Just take a look at what's going on in Tennessee's 95 counties:

• 85% don't have a residing neurosurgeon in patient care.
• 52% don't have a residing orthopedic surgeon in patient care.
• 49% don't have a residing emergency physician in patient care.
• 44% don't have a residing obstetrician-gynecologist in patient care.