Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Highlights Recent Medical Malpractice Developments in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania

Summarizes of recent news about medical malpractice developments in two states appear below.

• New York: A coalition of consumer groups on Monday sent a letter to New York Gov. David Paterson (D) opposing a proposal to establish a state-sponsored indemnity fund to pay for medical malpractice claims, the New York Sun reports. Under the proposal, a state-sponsored fund would pay any patient expenses incurred by hospitals, physicians and insurance providers due to malpractice. The fund would be tied to the state's $47 million Medicaid program or it would receive other state funding, according to a source familiar with the proposal. The coalition called CURE-NY -- which includes the Center for Justice & Democracy, the Center for Medical Consumers and the New York Public Interest Research Group -- said the proposal would relieve the medical field from paying any future expenses of injured patients. A spokesperson for the coalition, John Guyette, said, "Obviously, it would be problematic if taxpayers are subsidizing malpractice." A spokesperson for Paterson said that a medical malpractice overhaul is "still a priority" for the governor's administration but that "the budget is foremost on his mind right now" (Solomont, New York Sun, 3/25).
  
  
• Ohio: There were fewer practicing obstetricians in Ohio in 2007 five years after a law was enacted to reduce medical malpractice rates in the state, the AP/Akron Beacon Journal reports. Under the law, jury awards for noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases with multiple victims, such as a mother and baby during a delivery, are capped at $1 million. Most other cases are capped at $350,000. According to an Associated Press analysis of State Medical Board numbers, the number of obstetrics and gynecology physicians decreased by 5% since 2002 to 1,327 in 2007. Opponents of the caps had said that malpractice insurance rates were increasing because companies were raising prices to account for stock market losses, not because of large jury awards. However, experts said many factors could contribute to fewer practicing obstetricians in the state, such as the high cost of new technology used to deliver babies and the rising cost of health care in general. Supporters of the caps say that medical malpractice rates in the state are still too high for physicians in high-risk specialties and that the state has not yet recovered from losing physicians who quit their specialties or left the state because of high malpractice insurance rates (Welsh-Huggins, Akron Beacon Journal, 3/24).
  
  
• Pennsylvania: In a letter to Pennsylvania physicians on Thursday, Gov. Ed Rendell (D) wrote that doctors will no longer receive assistance with medical malpractice insurance premiums from the state's MCare abatement program because lawmakers have not approved a bill (SB 1137) that would expand health insurance to the uninsured, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. Rendell said he would not approve the MCare abatement program again unless there is progress on the legislation by Monday, which he said in the letter will not happen. However, he wrote that if an agreement is reached on the measure, the state's physicians could receive refunds on their abatement costs. Rendell in the letter wrote, "I ask for both your patience in coping with the current situation and your help in ensuring that our legislators maintain their focus and attention and pass this critical piece of legislation" (Fahy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 3/28).