Group urges better medical oversight

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- A consumer group Monday blamed inadequate oversight, in part, for the increasing medical malpractice insurance rates in Texas.

State legislators are considering legislation that would limit non-economic damages to victims of doctor errors to $250,000 in compensation, but Public Citizen said lawyers are not to blame for the high premiums Texas doctors are facing.

"The medical and insurance lobbies are pulling out all the stops," said Tom Smith, director of the group's Texas office. "But capping damages will only hurt those who have been most severely injured by doctor errors. The short-term insurance rate increases have nothing to do with the civil justice system and everything to do with insurance industry economics."

Public Citizen cited data that shows that "repeat offender" doctors are responsible for the bulk of malpractice payments. Between September 1990 and September 2002, 6.5 percent of Texas's doctors made two or more malpractice payouts worth more than $1 billion. These represented 51.3 percent of all payments, according to federal figures.

Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group, urged the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners to investigate 272 doctors who have lost or settled four or more medical malpractice cases and who had not been disciplined in 12 years.

The Texas Medical Association said Public Citizen failed to recognize the impact that the medical malpractice insurance crisis is having on doctors.

"They totally miss the point that doctors cannot deliver babies, that neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons cannot take emergency room calls, that doctors are retiring early," said TMA spokeswoman Pam Baggett.

"If only a handful of doctors are responsible for the bulk of liability payouts, why are the overwhelming majority of physicians subjected to frivolous claims? And why are 86 percent of them closed with no payout to the plaintiffs?"

Baggett said the association supports a strong board of medical examiners.

"We want them adequately funded to do the job we count on them to do," she said. "Right now, only 20 percent of the fees physicians pay to the board are retained by the board to enable it to do its job."

In recent years, the board said it has stepped up regulatory actions despite being underfunded and understaffed. In the past five years, the board reports it has removed 27 Texas doctors from practice for standard of care issues.