Medical Liability

At Issue

America's health care delivery system is in crisis. Doctors are leaving their practices because of liability concerns and the inability to obtain adequate malpractice insurance. Medical malpractice insurance costs are increasing at a rate where many physicians are forced to leave their practices and move to other states, leaving millions of rural Americans with little or no access to adequate and affordable health care. The threat of lawsuit abuse often forces doctors to perform invasive and expensive tests in order to protect themselves. Liability is estimated to cost the country $22 billion a year which is passed directly on to the consumer in the form of higher health insurance premiums.

NAHU's Position

NAHU supports the following commonsense medical liablity reforms:

• Limiting non-economic damages to $250,000;
• Allocating damages in proportion to a party's degree of fault;
• Allowing patients to recover damages, such as future medical expenses and loss of future earnings, while maintaining the $250,000 non-economic damages cap;
• Placing reasonable limits on punitive damages;
• Limiting attorneys' fees to a percentage of jury awards; and
• Limiting the number of years a plaintiff has to file a health liability action to ensure that claims are brought while evidence and witnesses are available.

For complete text of NAHU's Medical Liability Reform position, click here.

Congressional Action

The Help Efficient, Accessible, Low Cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act (H.R. 5) passed the U.S. House on July 28, 2005. This bill aims to make changes in the health care liability system by reducing the burdens it places on the delivery of health care.

The bill has several components:

• It requires that a suit be brought within three years of the date of injury or one year after the claimant discovers the injury, whichever comes first; it also specifies exceptions for action after three years from the date of injury;
• It provides requirements and permissible recovery amounts for compensating a patient's injury including 1. the full amount of economic loss; 2. noneconomic damages as specified in the bill; and 3. a fair share rule;
• It requires the court to supervise arrangements for the payment of damages, and limits contingency fees;
• It permits the introduction of evidence of collateral source benefits, but not to provisions of the Social Security Act pertaining to state medical assistance plans and Medicare as a secondary payer;
• It limits the availability of punitive damages by requiring clear and convincing evidence of malicious intent to harm, or a deliberate failure to avoid substantially certain and unnecessary injury;
• It prohibits a punitive damages award for products in compliance with Food and Drug Administration standards, except if a manufacturer or distributor of a product, or supplier of a component or raw material, causes harm by failing to comply with the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act;
• It authorizes periodic payment of future damages to claimants;
• It excludes suits under the bill for vaccine-related death or injury if these claims are otherwise covered under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program;
• It preempts state law unless it imposes greater protections from liability, loss or damages for health care providers and organizations; and
• Expresses the "sense of Congress" that a health insurer should be liable for damages or harm when it makes a decision about medically necessary and appropriate care.

Additional Resources

The Effects of Tort Reform: Evidence From the States - Congressional Budget Office (CBO) - June 2004.

The Medical Liability Crisis and its Impact on Patients> - United States Senate, Republican Policy Committee - February 5, 2003

Doctors Leaving Their Practices: the Medical Liability Crisis - United States Senate, Republican Policy Committee - February 5, 2003

Excessive Litigation Compromises the Delivery of Obstetric Care - American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists - February 2004

Access to Women's Health Care America's Medicial Liability Crisis Ob-Gyns Driven From Practice - American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists - February 2004

The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) - 50 State Summary of Medical Liability Reform

American Casualties of the Medical Liability Crisis - The Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Health Care

Health Coalition on Liability and Access Homepage

Medical Liability Studies and Reports - The Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Health Care

Government Resources

Medical Malpractice Crisis Continues - Vice Chairman Jim Saxton (R-NJ), Joint Economic Committee Press Release, United States Congress - January 13, 2004

Medical Malpractice Reform: Perspectives on Recent Findings by the GAO - Vice Chairman Jim Saxton (R-NJ), Joint Economic Committee, United States Congress - December 2003

Liability For Medical Malpractce: Issues and Evidence - A Joint Economic Committee Study, Vice Chairman Jim Saxton (R-NJ), Joint Economic Committee, United States Congress - May 2003

Confronting the New Health Care Crisis - Improving Health Care Quality and Lowering Costs by Fixing our Medical Liability System - Department of HHS, July 24, 2002 - Related HHS statement

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