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Moves on Tenn. malpractice By Daniel Connolly, Commercial Appeal Tennessee lawmakers may be close to a compromise on medical malpractice legislation that would end a years-long conflict between lawyers and doctors, the leader of the state House Judiciary Committee said Tuesday. "We've been having some pretty high-level meetings over the last couple of weeks, trying to reach as much common ground as we can," said state Rep. Rob Briley, D-Nashville. Briley, an attorney, said he had discussed the issue with people, including state Sen. Mark Norris, R-Collierville, a leader of physician-backed efforts to make it harder for patients to sue doctors with claims of medical errors. Instead, the legislation would aim to reduce frivolous lawsuits by making lawyers certify that they had talked with medical professionals and had a good-faith belief that a medical error occurred, Briley said. The lawyers would be punished if a judge later ruled that there was no medical basis for the suit, he said. Meetings have included state legislators and representatives of hospitals and health insurers, Briley said. However, he said one group hasn't been in the room: doctors. Gary M. Zelizer, director of government affairs for the Tennessee Medical Association, confirmed that the doctors' group hasn't been involved in the meetings. He said he didn't want to comment on specifics of the proposed legislation. "Basically, at this point in time we've still got lots of questions about it," he said. He said limits on damages matter. "Caps obviously are very important not only to organized medicine in the state, but a number of our coalition partners who believe that caps on noneconomic damages are key to holding down health care costs and improving access to care," he said. Norris originally planned to bring a bill to a vote at the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, but delayed it until next week. "This will give more time for more people to take a look at the amendments we have filed on it," he said. Any change in medical malpractice law could have consequences for the legal and health care industries and for patients. Attorneys' groups have said new laws that make it harder to sue and lower financial incentives for attorneys would mean more patients would suffer from medical mistakes. Medical groups have argued that frivolous lawsuits drive up health care costs and make it difficult for doctors to work in Tennessee. A November report by the state Department of Commerce and Insurance said medical organizations paid $61.8 million in 2005 to defend against malpractice claims. Health organizations paid $119 million in settlements that year, and courts awarded another $6 million, the report said. Also Tuesday, the scholarly journal Health Affairs published an article by a Memphis economist that says most changes in state malpractice law have no effect on the number or size of the malpractice compensation payments doctors make to patients. Teresa Meyer Waters, an associate professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, and colleagues from other institutions used data from 1991 to 2003. They concluded that laws such as strict time limits on when patients can file suit and provisions that health organizations pay over time rather than all at once didn't have an effect. But they concluded that strict requirements on who can serve as an expert witness and dollar limits on awards for noneconomic damages such as pain as suffering reduced the number and amount of malpractice compensation paid. Waters and her colleagues also concluded Tennessee had one of the lowest number of paid malpractice claims per doctor in recent years among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Tennessee also ranked seventh from the bottom in the average malpractice payment per physician per year, about $3,000. Waters said the medical malpractice system is difficult for doctors and patients and isn't good way to improve health care. "I think that we spend a lot of time passing these kinds of laws and they have a certain effect, but more importantly we should focus on policies that promote patient safety and quality of care," she said. Examples would include efforts to help doctors learn from medical mistakes, she said. |
