Senate To Debate Provision to Cap Awards from Medical Malpractice Suits

The Senate on July 30 is scheduled to debate an amendment to a generic drug bill (S 812) that would cap medical malpractice awards in lawsuits against doctors and insurance companies, CongressDaily reports. The amendment would limit punitive damages to twice the amount of compensatory damages, require 50% of punitive damage awards go to state activities and restrict attorneys' fees. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the amendment's sponsor, said, "This is very pro-victim, pro-consumer legislation." But Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said, "These caps only serve to hurt those patients who have suffered the most severe, life-altering injuries and who have proven their cases in court" (CongressDaily, 7/26). Last week, President Bush called on lawmakers to act on malpractice legislation, saying that unlimited awards increase health costs and force doctors out of business (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/26). For instance, the trauma center at the University Medical Center in Las Vegas closed on July 3 for 10 days after staff resigned, citing rising medical malpractice insurance costs (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 7/15).

Malpractice Premiums, Funding Problems Hurting Trauma Centers
The United States is allowing trauma centers, the nation's "first line of defense," to "crumble" from a lack of funding, Inova Fairfax Hospital Vice Chair of Surgery David Reines says in an NPR "Morning Edition" commentary. According to Reines, the rising medical malpractice insurance costs that led to the recent closure of the trauma center at Las Vegas' University Medical Center are "only one of many problems that threaten" trauma systems. Reines said that most trauma centers receive "little if any" state or federal funding, despite high personnel and medical equipment costs and that money spent fighting terrorism will be "wasted" without trauma physicians and facilities to "care for our most terribly injured" (Reines, "Morning Edition," NPR, 7/29).
The full segment will be available online in RealPlayer Audio after noon ET.