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Gazette Tort reform boils down to task force bill by Catherine
Dolinski ANNAPOLIS -- With the governor's malpractice tort reform bill dead in the Senate, House leaders revealed this week that a simple task force bill is the only proposal left standing after the contentious battle between doctors and lawyers over escalating medical malpractice insurance rates. House committees are expected to amend the task force bill to include several moderate reforms, such as mandating mediation in malpractice cases, before voting on the bill today. But a briefing Thursday by the speaker's malpractice workgroup left no doubt that nothing resembling sweeping change is likely to happen this year. Anthony G. Brown (D-Dist. 25) of Mitchellville, chairman of the malpractice workgroup made up of delegates from several committees, briefed the House Economic Matters and Judiciary committees on Thursday about the bill and their options for amending it. The bulk of the House bill would commission a task force of legislators to search for ways to address insurance rates without compromising malpractice victims' right to sue. The task force, Brown said, is intended to find long-term solutions, leaving the question, "What can we do so that we have an impact on medical malpractice liability premiums in the short term?" Brown advised the two committees, to which the task force bill was referred, to consider several modest reforms, including: *Beefing up the required components of the Certificate of Merit that must be filed in a lawsuit. *Limiting payments of past medical expenses to those actually paid by the claimant (as opposed to an insurer). *Requiring mediation by a state-approved mediator in all medical malpractice suits before trial. "We in the workgroup believe this is a balanced approach," Brown said. "It is not a Band-Aid approach, nor is it a final solution. But it is an approach that will move us in the right direction." Other options discussed by the workgroup included a proposal to compress malpractice insurance rates to a 600 percent spread, and one to replace the double caps in malpractice cases where there has been a death with a single cap of $900,000. But Brown warned the committees against appending either one of those reforms to the task force bill, given the likelihood of an inhospitable reception in either the Senate or governor's office. After the briefing Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph F. Vallario Jr. (D-Dist. 27A) of Upper Marlboro said the recommended provisions would provide some relief for insurers and doctors -- especially mandatory mediation. "Often those suits include multiple defendants," Vallario said. Getting everyone in the same room at once, in the hands of not only attorneys but an objective mediator, will likely lead to more efficient resolutions of malpractice cases, he said. "The problem with lawyers is they don't talk to each other." Vallario and Economic Matters Chairman Dereck E. Davis (D-Dist. 25) of Upper Marlboro said their committees would probably vote on the bill today. A spokeswoman for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) said the governor has not taken a position on the workgroup's recommendations, which were in the hands of the governor's "legislative shop." At first blush, said Ehrlich spokeswoman Shareese N. DeLeaver, "the governor believes this might not scratch the itch with regard to medical malpractice crisis on our hands." But while he remains concerned about what he considers a medical malpractice crisis, Davis said, "Obviously the workgroup had to work within political reality. The reality is, there's no point in putting [reforms] into the bill that the Senate has decided against. For complete coverage of the 2004 legislative session, go to |
