Doctors from across the state will descend upon the Missouri Capitol in their white coats tomorrow seeking tort reform measures that cap medical malpractice lawsuits.
Organized as The Show Me Tort Reform Coalition, doctors plan to take a day off from their practices and travel to Jefferson City to ask lawmakers to support tort reforms, the linchpin being a $350,000 limit on noneconomic damages.
Springfield Rep. Eric Burlison has sponsored a tort reform bill in the Missouri House of Representatives, HB 1173, and Rolla Sen. Dan Brown wrote a similar measure, SB 589, for the state Senate.
The statewide group of some 31 health care organizations and business associations is seeking to restore the state's cap on damages awarded for injuries difficult to quantify – such as loss of enjoyment, pain and suffering, and loss of consortium in medical malpractice lawsuits. In 2012, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled caps on noneconomic damages were unconstitutional, removing the state’s tort reform law that was enacted in 2005. Previously, Missouri had capped noneconomic damages 1986–2002, when another Supreme Court ruling limited the effectiveness of the caps by permitting separate caps to separate defendants, the coalition says.
According to the medical coalition, between 2002 and 2005, the number of companies writing insurance policies for Missouri doctors dropped to eight from 32, and by 2004, 1 in 10 OB-GYN doctors had quit practicing obstetrics because of insurance costs. Additionally, the group reports 53 percent of neurosurgeons refused to accept Medicaid patients, 23 percent refused to accept Medicare patients, and 66 percent reduced the services provided.
When caps returned in 2005, the coalition says Missouri added about 1,000 physicians during the following seven years. Through 2012, the doctors’ groups report a $44 million decrease in written liability insurance premiums and a 47 percent drop in the number of claims filed.
The doctors say reining in such lawsuit awards would help control their medical liability insurance premiums, and the legislative moves are shaping up for a showdown at the capital between practicing doctors and personally injury attorneys.
The year before caps were reintroduced in 2005, the coalition says personal injury attorneys filed 1,512 claims against medical providers, compared to 741 the first year caps were enforced.
“Nearly $50 million was hijacked into courtrooms for frivolous lawsuits that were the results of personal injury attorneys and patients with secondary gain issues,” Chesterfield physician Kaylea Boutwell says in a video posted to ShowMeTortReform.com. “We have a very receptive legislature, but they can’t know how you’re feeling without communicating with them, much like the patients we work with every day.
“We have the opportunity to prevent the diversion of money and time away from our patients.”
The state medical, hospital and pharmacy associations are coalition members, along with the Washington University School of Medicine, BJC Healthcare and the state chamber of commerce, according to ShowMeTortReform.com.
The White Coat Rally Day is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. with presentations by bill sponsors Burlison and Brown in the first-floor rotunda, followed by legislative debates in the House and Senate. Individual meetings with state legislators are scheduled in the afternoon.
This installment of Springfield Business Journal’s Architects & Engineers Project Report showcases 26 endeavors by area design and engineering professionals.
