|
Hundreds of Oklahoma doctors would like to see passage
of laws that would cap attorneys fees and lower litigation costs, similar to
measures approved in Texas.
Opponents, including members of the Oklahoma Trial
Lawyer's Association who represent the victims of medical malpractice, say
passage would limit the rights of patients who are injured by careless
physicians.
"Do we really want to take away the rights of people
so doctors can have cheaper malpractice rates?" said attorney Tony Laizure
of Tulsa, OTLA's president.
The proposal, supported by Republican leaders in the
Oklahoma Legislature, would build on reforms passed last year that placed
limits on medical and nursing home liability, including a $300,000 cap on
non-economic damages from lawsuits involving pregnancy and emergency care.
Those reforms were endorsed by the OTLA.
"We made some improvements last year. But we didn't
make the system fair," said Dr. Jack Beller, an orthopedic surgeon and
president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association who pays more than
$40,000 a year in malpractice insurance.
Beller and others have said a pair of recent judgments
in unrelated obstetrics cases, totaling $3 million and $4 million,
respectively, are examples of why malpractice insurance rates are going up.
"Oklahoma has been known as a state that has allowed a
system of jackpot justice," said House Minority Leader Todd Hiett of
Kellyville.
Reforms would preserve Oklahomans' access to health
care and promote economic development by attracting industries with good
jobs, he said.
"Business and industry leaders simply will not take
their companies to states where they feel they are at the risk of suffering
the wrath of greedy trial lawyers," Hiett said.
But Laizure said there is no correlation between
medical liability awards and higher malpractice premiums and that claims of
runaway juries in Oklahoma are unsubstantiated.
"It would appear to me to be a combination of
political games and ignorance," Laizure said.
The debate has a different meaning for Diana Stinson
of Tulsa. Stinson's daughter, Angella Smith, had her left leg amputated
below the knee after doctors botched a medical procedure following a go-cart
accident.
Angella, who turned 13 just days after losing her leg,
received a six-figure settlement, Stinson said. But the money will never
compensate her for her loss.
"It's not enough to replace her leg," Stinson said.
She will incur a lifetime of medical costs and procedures, including
replacing her prosthetic leg each time she grows.
"It's been an ordeal," Stinson said. "All the
emotional torture that she had to go through _ and is still going through.
"It was not high enough. You can't put a price on
someone's limb."
Highlights of the reform proposal include:
_A cap on attorney's fees, ranging from 30 percent of
the first $250,000 in damages to 10 percent for damages greater than $1.25
million.
_A $250,000 cap on non-economic damages in all civil
cases, including medical liability cases.
_Requiring litigants whose lawsuits are ruled
frivolous to pay the defendant's attorneys fees.
Medical malpractice lawsuits cost an average of about
$17 million a year in Oklahoma between 1990 and 1999, Beller said. The
figure had doubled to $34 million by 2002, including more than $5 million in
prejudgement interest.
Costs for 2003 are expected to be around $50 million,
Beller said.
The average settlement costs of malpractice cases in
2002 was $350,000 _ double what it was five years earlier.
In November, Physicians Liability Insurance Company,
Oklahoma's largest provider of medical malpractice insurance, won permission
to sharply increase rates to generate $41 million in additional premiums.
The increase, spread over three years, boosted rates
by 39.5 percent on Jan. 1. Increases of 15 percent and 14 percent will go
into effect in 2005 and 2006, respectively.
Ever increasing costs will likely force other
physicians to either leave the state or abandon their practices, Hook said.
"It just financially impossible to continue when
you're paying that type of malpractice insurance," Hook said. "Access to
health care is really going to be an issue."
|
