After three days of debate, Senate Democrats blocked consideration of a bill (S. 11) that would limit non-economic medical malpractice awards to $250,000 and limit attorneys’ fees. Sponsored by Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), the Patients First Act would cap punitive damages at twice the economic damages, or at $250,000, whichever is greater. This legislation is similar to a bill (H.R. 5) the House approved in March (see The Source, 3/14/03). Under both bills, states could choose to set higher or lower caps than those in the federal law. A GOP leadership effort to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to consideration of S. 11 failed, 49-48, 11 votes short of the 60 necessary to limit debate.
Speaking in support of S. 11, Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) explained how the current system has affected the obstetricians-gynecologists (ob/gyn) community. “Obstetrics-gynecology is among the top three specialties in the cost of professional liability insurance premiums…with increases as high as 69 percent.” He further added that, “As premiums increase, women’s access to general health care including regular screenings for reproductive cancers, high blood pressure and cholesterol, diabetes, and other serious health risks will decrease. Ob/gyns are disappearing…without medical liability reform, a greater number of women ages 19 to 44 will move into the ranks of the uninsured.”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) also noted the high cost of malpractice insurance for ob/gyns and pointed out that “twenty percent of the [obstetricians] and [gynecologists] in West Virginia and Georgia have been forced out of their practice due to rising premiums.” Nevertheless, she opposed the bill stating that, “under this bill, suits against drug and device manufacturers, such as the makers of the weight loss drug Phen-Fen, the Dalkon shield contraceptive device, faulty heart valves, and other products that have caused innocent deaths, would be limited to $250,000 in non-economic damages. I find that unacceptable.”
Many Senators have voiced their support for an alternative proposal sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The Medical Malpractice Insurance Antitrust Act (S. 1374) would offer tax relief to doctors to help offset their soaring malpractice premiums, create a commission to study that problem, and strip the insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws.
