WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush on Tuesday made his case for medical malpractice reform before an audience of physicians in Washington as Congress prepares to debate the issue that doctors say has forced out of business many who practice in high-risk specialties.
"If one of the goals of a good healthcare system is for it to be affordable and accessible, and if lawsuits are running up the cost of medicine and/or driving docs out of business because the practicing of medicine is too expensive, we've got to do something about it," Bush said.
Bush made his remarks before the American Medical Association, which has been vocal in criticism of rising malpractice premiums that they say have cost many doctors their jobs.
The administration and the AMA each released reports showing problems with medical litigation have worsened in the past year.
The president's proposal seeks to cap non-economic damages at $250,000, which would include awards for pain and suffering. It would allow judgments to be paid out over time rather than in a lump sum and would set a statute of limitations on cases, the White House said.
The proposal would also reduce the amount doctors must pay if a plaintiff has received insurance payments to compensate for their losses, and it calls for defendants to pay judgments in proportion to their fault. The White House said states without reasonable limits on damages have experienced the largest hikes in medical malpractice insurance premiums, some ranging from 36 percent to 113 percent in 2002.
The White House and groups representing physicians say doctors across the country have been experiencing difficulty in securing affordable malpractice insurance, particularly in high-risk specialties such as obstetrics and trauma. Many have either left their practices or limited what services they offer.
Bush promised reforms of the system that he said allows nearly unlimited damage awards.
Physicians in West Virginia and Florida in January went on strike protesting malpractice costs, which caused four hospitals to scramble to cut worker hours and transfer patients. West Virginia's legislature enacted its own malpractice reforms to get doctors back to work.
Democrats, consumer advocates and trial lawyers blasted the White House proposal saying it would be unfair to victims of medical negligence. Groups like the Association of Trial Lawyers of America have pointed to the case of 17-year-old Jesica Santillan who died last month after doctors at Duke University Hospital botched her heart-lung transplant, giving her organs that were the wrong blood type.
Also fueling the malpractice cap debate has been the case of Linda McDougal, 46, who had an unnecessary double mastectomy at United Hospital in St. Paul, Minn. after being told erroneously that she had cancer.
Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said lawmakers must ensure that good doctors are not gouged by insurance companies. Bush, he said, wants to point the finger of blame for rising premiums on injured patients and their lawyers.
"Of course it's never that simple. In fact, even many insurers admit that they will not reduce doctors' premiums if damage awards are arbitrarily capped and injured patients' legal rights restricted, as the president proposes," said Hoyer, the House Democratic Whip.
"I find it particularly interesting that many of those who believe juries are perfectly competent to decide whether a defendant in a capital case lives or dies are somehow incompetent to decide whether a medical provider committed negligence and, if so, whether an injured patient should be compensated for his or her injury," Hoyer said.
