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| Tuesday, Feb 11, 2003 |
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Posted on February 11, 2003 Bill for malpractice reforms unlikely to pass this year Doctors are pushing for changes in the state's statutes to shield them from big court verdicts and rising medical malpractice insurance rates. But the situation in South Carolina is not a crisis, and a single legislative session is not enough time to deal with it effectively, said state Rep. Jim Harrison, R-Columbia, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee to which tort reform legislation is referred. "Unless we can get the parties talking and trying to find some common ground, I wouldn't be optimistic that anything that would pass this year," Harrison said Monday. Harrison does support part of Rep. Ralph Davenport's bill that calls for a task force to study frivolous lawsuits. The Boiling Springs Republican's measure also would cap non-economic awards, such as pain and suffering, at $250,000 or the amount paid for economic losses, including future wages and medical care, which ever is greater. Harrison says the issue is much bigger than "just caps." Doctors say it is the explosive and unreasonable growth of these potentially mega-million-dollar "non-economic" awards that is driving up their malpractice insurance rates and endangering accessible health care. For example, a jury awarded a Pendleton woman $17.5 million in a 2001 malpractice case. Even the final award reduced to $10.25 million was a state record. The American Medical Association says South Carolina is among 32 states exhibiting "problem signs" that could lead to a full-blown crisis in malpractice insurance. Another dozen are confronting a crisis right now, the association says. Georgia has a $250,000 cap, but average premiums rose between 35 percent and 40 percent from 2001 to 2002, said Edward Lybrook, director of product development at MAG Mutual, a regional nonprofit, doctor-owned malpractice insurer based in Atlanta. South Carolina's rates are some of the lowest in the nation, but they're climbing fast. The average premium across all specialties is $18,655, compared to an average of $30,521 in states with damage caps in place, according to the October 2002 Medical Liability Monitor. While acknowledging malpractice occurs, doctors say lawyers turn courtrooms into lotteries and increase malpractice insurance costs along the way. Average rates charged by the state Medical Malpractice Liability Joint Underwriters Association and Patient's Compensation Fund rose 35 percent in 2002, S.C. Medical Association spokeswoman Dana Yow said. The carrier covers about 5,000 of the state's 8,000 physicians. The average obstetrician saw rates leap 66 percent to $28,883 since June 2001 and nearly quadruple since 1995. "If (insurers) are saying they have to raise rates because of some large payouts, that's incorrect," said Columbia medical malpractice lawyer Charles Henshaw Jr., a past president of the S.C. Trial Lawyers Association. He says mismanagement of the association and fund caused the increases. |
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