AMA Says Patient Care at Risk Because of Lawmakers' Inaction

CHICAGO -- The American Medical Association today called on lawmakers in Pennsylvania and across the country to heed President George Bush's call for meaningful medical liability reform. The President's visit to Scranton underscores the need for elected officials at the state and federal levels to pass reforms aimed at ending "jackpot justice" and ensuring patients will not have to watch helplessly as their doctors are forced to retire early, move to another state or stop performing certain procedures such as trauma surgery and obstetrics.

"Pennsylvania already has lost more than 600 physicians and two maternity wards, and trauma care in Scranton and throughout the state is in jeopardy," said AMA President-elect Donald J. Palmisano, MD. "While lawmakers debate the merits of medical liability reform, their delays are putting patient care at serious risk."

Palmisano pointed to California's MICRA law as the model law for Pennsylvania and the nation because it protects patients' access to the courts while reigning in excessive jury awards and meritless lawsuits. MICRA, which has been in place since 1975, is the reason physicians' insurance premiums in California have risen by 167 percent since 1975 while physicians in the rest of the country have seen their premiums increase by 505 percent.

"The solution is plain and simple. We need reforms patterned after California's law, including a cap on non-economic damages," said Palmisano. "Now is the time to put an end to a broken legal system that has caused crisis conditions in a dozen states, including Pennsylvania. California's law works, and we have the facts that prove it."

Other important provisions of MICRA include:

-- Ensuring patients receive 100 percent compensation for their economic

losses, including medical expenses, rehabilitation costs and lost

wages, if harmed by a physician's negligence;

-- Maximizing the amount of money juries award for patients -- not trial

lawyers; and

-- Placing a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages.

"The AMA is pleased the President has made medical liability reform a top priority for his administration," said Palmisano. "We're urging the 108th Congress to do the same."

Source: American Medical Association