Medical malpractice reform may have ‘gone down in flames’

By John Rodgers, NashvilleCityPaper.com
May 11, 2007

A compromise that Democratic Rep. Rob Briley and a pair of Republican lawmakers forged concerning medical malpractice reform may have “gone down in flames” this week.

Wednesday, a compromise bill that Briley (D-Nashville), Rep. Doug Overbey (R-Maryville) and Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris (R-Collierville) had crafted on the politically contentious issue of medical malpractice was on the House floor.

A similar, although somewhat different, bill had already unanimously passed the Senate.

The compromise was based on the premise of dropping what the Republicans had long unsuccessfully sought — caps on what a jury could award in punitive damages to a successful plaintiff — and instead embracing the idea of cutting down on frivolous lawsuits.

But Wednesday, that compromise bill may not have a chance of becoming law this year because the House voted to kill an amendment to the bill and it was sent back to the House Judiciary Committee.

The Judiciary Committee, which Briley chairs, is closed for the year.

“It seemed to kind of go down in flames,” Briley said Thursday. “Obviously, I’m disappointed about the outcome of it.”

Briley could reopen the Judiciary Committee and move the bill back onto the House floor, but he said he would only do that if he could “clear up” some “misinformation” about the amendment that was killed.

The misinformation, Briley said, about his amendment regarded a legal jargon called the “locality rule,” which determines what medical experts can testify to a certain “standard of care.”

Briley wanted to expand that care standard from a community standard to statewide.

“From what I heard, there was more misinformation spread about the content and impact of that bill over the last four or five days than I thought was imaginable, which to me either shows someone’s incompetence or their intent to be deceptive about what the bill actually accomplished,” Briley said.

Briley said he believed House Majority Leader Gary Odom (D-Nashville) and Caucus Chairman Randy Rinks (D-Savannah) were victims of that misinformation. Both voted to kill Briley’s amendment.

Odom said he wouldn’t characterize his vote as being “misinformed,” but the locality rule was a “major bone of contention.”

“I guess I wish that we had not acted on the bill as quickly so that we could have talked about it more,” Odom said.

Briley and Odom made their comments during the House Democratic leadership’s press conference Thursday while sitting on either side of House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh (D-Covington).

After questioning from reporters about Odom and Rinks’ opposition to Briley’s amendment, Naifeh cut off reporters’ questions about the bill.

“I’m not going to let this turn into a debate between the chairmen and the two leaders over here,” Naifeh said. “So we’re going to go on to the next item.”

The Senate’s medical malpractice bill did not include the “locality rule.” Norris said if the House had approved it, however, he “probably” would have supported the Senate adopting it.

The compromise bill’s attempts to crackdown on frivolous lawsuits included requiring lawyers to sign a certificate of good faith that their lawsuit had merit.

That certificate of good faith has to include an expert witness’ backing as well. Lawyers can face penalties if it’s determined the lawsuit lacked merit.