Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Examines Developments Related to Malpractice in Five States, USA

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 16 May 2005 - 8:00 PDT

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Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report features recent developments related to medical malpractice in five states. Summaries appear below.

• Alaska: The Alaska House last week voted 22-18 to pass a bill (SB 67) that would lower the cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases to $250,000, and to $400,000 in cases involving wrongful death or severe physical disfigurement if a patient is more than 70% disabled, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports. Currently, noneconomic damages are capped at the greater of $400,000 or $8,000 times the patient's life expectancy, while noneconomic damages in cases of wrongful death or severe disfigurement are capped at the greater of $1 million or $25,000 times life expectancy. State Rep. Mike Kelly (R) said the legislation is intended to attract more physicians to the state, ensure that malpractice insurance providers remain in the state and stabilize insurance premium rates. However, opponents of the bill say there is no clear evidence that the legislation would achieve those goals (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, 5/6).
  


• Hawaii: Increasing medical malpractice insurance premiums and concern about malpractice lawsuits have caused some physicians -- particularly obstetricians and orthopedic surgeons -- in the state to quit their practices, the Honolulu Advertiser reports. The number of obstetricians in the state who deliver infants and care for women who have given birth has decreased by 9% to 146 doctors since 2003, according to the Hawaiian chapter of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. An additional 42% of OB/GYNs in the state said they plan to quit obstetrics, with 29% planning to stop performing deliveries over the next five years, an ACOG survey conducted last year found (Adamson/Creamer, Honolulu Advertiser, 5/9). In addition, the number of practicing orthopedic surgeons in the state declined by 29% to 48 doctors over the past decade, the Hawaii Orthopedic Association reports (AP/Las Vegas Sun, 5/9). Executive Director of the Hawaii Medical Association Paula Arcena said that annual malpractice premiums for OB/GYNs have increased by 53% to $62,500 since 2000 and that orthopedic surgeons' premiums have increased by 45% since 2001 (Honolulu Advertiser, 5/9).
  


• Illinois: State House Democrats last week introduced a bill that would cap noneconomic damages at $250,000 in malpractice lawsuits against individual physicians and at $500,000 in lawsuits against hospitals, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. In addition, state Senate Democrats introduced similar legislation that would cap noneconomic damages at $500,000 in malpractice lawsuits against individual physicians and at $1 million in lawsuits against hospitals. Both bills would require malpractice insurers to obtain approval from the state before they could increase premiums at a higher rate than inflation. The Illinois State Medical Society President Craig Backs called the malpractice insurance provisions in the bills "onerous" (Fischer, Chicago Sun-Times, 5/6). On Tuesday, Illinois AFL-CIO President Margaret Blackshere announced plans to hold a rally of more than one million members in a "full-court press" against the bills, the Copley News/Peoria Journal Star reports (Massingale, Copley News/Peoria Journal Star, 5/11).
  


• South Carolina: The Joint Underwriting Association and the Patients Compensation Fund, the two largest malpractice insurers in the state, have announced plans to increase premium rates by as much as 22% in July, the Charleston Post and Courier reports. As a result, physicians who practice in high-risk specialties, such as neurosurgery, will have to pay more than $75,000 annually for malpractice insurance. The two malpractice insurers plan to increase premium rates despite the recent enactment of a new law, scheduled to take effect in July, that will cap noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits at $350,000, or at about $1 million in cases with multiple defendants. Dan Brake, a North Charleston physician who chairs the Joint Underwriting Association board, said the new law in the future likely will attract other private malpractice insurers to the state, which could increase competition and could lead to reduced premium rates. However, Gerald Wilson, a Columbia surgeon and president of the South Carolina Medical Association, said that physicians in the state do not expect decreases in malpractice insurance premium rates as a result of the new law (Maze, Charleston Post and Courier, 5/11).
  


• West Virginia: Gov. Joe Manchin (D) on Wednesday signed into law the Open Communications Act and the "innocent prescriber bill," both of which the "medical community is applauding," the Charleston Daily Mail reports. Under the open communications law, patients cannot use physician apologies as evidence of an admission of liability in malpractice lawsuits. Under the innocent prescriber law, patients cannot hold liable physicians and others for the proper use of prescription drugs or medical devices approved by FDA. "These definitely are two priority medical bills that we're really, really happy the Legislature and the governor approved," Thom Stevens, a lobbyist who represents family physicians and other health care providers, said. State Sen. Dan Foster (D) called the open communications bill "good for patients," adding, "The idea is to encourage physicians to communicate with patients, especially if there is a bad result or unfortunate situation" (Smith, Charleston Daily Mail, 5/6).

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