On May 21, Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry today signed into law historic tort reform legislation, saying House Bill 1603 by Rep. Dan Sullivan and Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee will help improve the legal process without impeding a citizen’s access to the courts. The measure would help curb frivolous lawsuits and reduce costs associated with the justice system, among other things.

“This legislation enacts reasonable and responsible reforms that improve the civil justice system without impairing a citizen’s constitutional right to have his or her legitimate grievances appropriately addressed in court,” Gov. Henry said.

“It is perhaps the most comprehensive tort reform measure in state history, and I want to thank all the parties who were involved in crafting this bipartisan legislation. Now it is time to put this issue behind us and give the new reforms an opportunity to work.”

The Legislature overwhelmingly approved the measure last week in a bipartisan vote. Today, legislative leaders applauded Gov. Henry’s action on the bill.

“This is a huge day for Oklahoma,” said Senate President Pro Tem Glenn Coffee. “Thanks to the good faith efforts on the part of health care and business interests, legislative leadership, the Trial Bar and Royalty
Owners, we can proudly proclaim that Oklahoma is open for business. We have made it possible for Oklahoma to keep our best and brightest physicians, and assure that those legitimately wronged will have their day in court.

“I thank the Governor for signing this legislation and helping move Oklahoma a giant step forward.”

“This law represents a truly bipartisan effort between legislative and executive leaders, doctors, trial attorneys, mineral owners, the business community and numerous other affected groups. As with most compromises, this isn’t a perfect bill by our standards, but we believe it is true reform that
will ensure access to quality, affordable health care while encouraging economic development and jobs creation in our state,” said House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa. “This is an historic day for our state and is one that should make the people of Oklahoma proud.”

HB 1603 will become effective on Nov. 1, 2009.

Physicians and surgeons in Oregon have seen a decline in medical professional liability insurance rates the past several years, according to a Department of Consumer and Business Services analysis of recent rate changes.

The DCBS Insurance Division found that physicians insured by Oregon’s two largest medical malpractice insurers have experienced an average 18 percent rate decrease since 2005 (see chart below). The two largest insurers—Continental Casualty Company (CNA) and Northwest Physicians Insurance Company (NPIC)—represent about 53 percent of the medical professional liability insurance market in Oregon.

“In the earlier part of this decade, rising malpractice insurance costs were a significant concern for specialty doctors, particularly in rural areas, forcing many to leave the state,” said Cory Streisinger, director of the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services. “The recent decline in rates should help Oregon continue to retain and attract highly skilled physicians.”

CNA, which provides malpractice insurance for the Oregon Medical Association, recently filed a 2.5 percent rate decrease with the Insurance Division. The decrease is effective May 1, 2009. NPIC has not filed a rate change this year as it transitions its business to its larger affiliate, The Doctors Company, An Interinsurance Exchange. This is the third straight year each company has dropped rates or left them unchanged.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), along with several other health organizations, filed an amici curiae (friends of the court) brief with the U.S. Supreme Court asking that it overturn a recent decision by the Georgia Supreme Court that would allow cases alleging injury from childhood vaccines to be decided by state juries, threatening the no-fault system enacted by Congress in the mid-1980s.

Congress enacted the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act of 1986 to protect the small number of children injured by vaccines and to safeguard the nation’s vaccine supply. Leading up to passage of the legislation, vaccine-related lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers had spiked, and the rising litigation threatened to halt necessary production of life-saving vaccines. According to the AAP, the recent ruling in American Home Products Corp. v. Ferrari would reverse the intentions set forth in the Act.

“If this decision is allowed to stand, it could lead to the very same crisis that Congress sought to prevent in passing the original legislation,” said Stephan E. Lawton, JD, FAAP, co-author of the amicus brief. “There is a genuine threat to our nation’s public health if manufacturers abandon or consider abandoning the production of vaccines. This decision would set our country back decades, and have deadly consequences for our children.”
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It looks like a few rule changes have dramatically lowered the number of malpractice suits filed in Pennsylvania. There were 1,602 filings last year, a 41% decline from the annual average between 2000 and 2002, before the changes were put in place.

One of the new rules requires a “certificate of merit” from a medical professional, establishing that “the medical procedures in a case fell below applicable standards of care,” according to a recent statement from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts. Another rule requires cases to be filed in the county where the alleged malpractice took place — an effort to discourage so-called venue shopping, where cases would be filed in counties thought to be sympathetic to plaintiffs.

The number of malpractice cases fell sharply in 2003, when the rules were in place, and have stayed down.

“The results have been extraordinarily impressive in abating the malpractice insurance crisis,” Pennsylvania’s governor said yesterday, the Philly Inquirer reports.

The president of the state’s medical society told the paper the decline in cases is encouraging, but said malpractice insurance rates in the state are among the costliest in the country. A spokesman for the society told the Health Blog that, for the most part, state doctors’ malpractice premiums have been stable or decreased slightly since 2002.

A representative of the state’s trial lawyers group told the Inquirer the group was satisfied with the rules, partly because there are no longer calls for caps on awards in the state.

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In 2004 Nevada passed a law that capped punitive damages to $350,000 in medical malpractice cases. The bill was part of the “Keep our Doctors in Nevada Act” in which supporters claimed limits on recovery were necessary in order to keep doctors in high specialties in the state.

Now, due to a hepatitis outbreak, as a result of unsanitary vaccination practices, Nevada has re-evaluated its stance on tort reform and is initiated the passing of AB495, which would eliminate the cap on non-economic damages.

The hepatitis outbreak resulted in 50,000 patients being notified that they were put at risk for contracting the disease. The AP reports that this is the largest patient notification in U.S. history.

Opponents of AB495 reiterate that the lifting the limit on non-economic damages will place doctors in the same precarious situation to either relocate their practices or face high insurance premiums.

Supporters of the bill contend that $350,000 does not adequately compensate victims of medical malpractice. For example, Cathy Bussewitz of the Associated Press noted:

Megan Gasper, 33, a mother of two children, told legislators she contracted hepatitis C after having two colonoscopies performed at the two clinics where the outbreak occurred, the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada and the Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center.

“This has pretty much stolen a year of my life,” Gasper said, fighting tears. “When you have to get up out of bed every day, and know that you have to take a medicine that will seriously affect your ability to play with your children, it’s hard to give yourself a self-injection.”

Former patients and family members told frightening stories of substandard care. Kevin Murray lost his daughter when doctors failed to notice the signs of meningitis. Michael Washington, who was the first patient to test positive for hepatitis C after the outbreak, said he would never be normal again.
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