A priority of the Republican party, legislation to limit pain and suffering of medical malpractice awards to $250,000 and punitive damages to the same or twice the patient's actual amount of monetary loss died in Congress in 2003. Now, President Bush has renewed his effort to limit medical malpractice awards as a way to cut healthcare costs. Last year, Florida medical malpractice caps were enacted after three special sessions and a compromise between the Florida Legislature and Governor Jeb Bush.
Critics of medical malpractice caps think that President Bush is not looking at the actual cause of health care costs. In 2003, the General Accounting Office released a report showing that states medical malpractice premiums are less than 1% of health care costs. Public Citizen consumer group issued a news release in July 2003 citing government data that showed the number and amount of payments to Florida medical malpractice victims actually declined in 2002, further fueling the group's argument that lawsuits are not responsible for the spikes in doctors' insurance premiums.
A routine hernia surgery performed more than 10 years ago has resulted in a nine-year legal and medical controversy. In August 1994, Dr. Joseph Diaco, a well-known professional sports surgeon, attached a four-by-five inch piece of mesh to Thomas Christian's abdominal wall, but Christian claims it became infected, ate away his torso muscles and left his intestines spilling out of his gut. read article....
Medical malpractice legislation signed this summer failed to go far enough to keep good doctors in the state, the Pinellas County Medical Society told the local legislative delegation. read article....
A medical malpractice insurance carrier is raising its 2004 rates for Florida doctors by an average of 45 percent. read article....
Though some Floridians might think the state Legislature made bold malpractice reforms during its special session in July, Dr. Alden Cockburn, a Tampa urologist, disagrees. read article....
Nearly seven in 10 consumers polled in an online survey said they blame attorneys and the legal system for surging medical malpractice rates, according to Weiss Ratings. read article...
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