by Monica Chamness
Staff Writer
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services hosted a town hall meeting Tuesday at the Omni for a lively debate about medical litigation.
The forum, America Talks Health Care, included comments by Health Department Secretary and former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson and representatives from the medical, academic and insurance fields. Notably absent from the panel of speakers were trial attorneys, who according to several participating, are to blame for skyrocketing medical costs.
Attorney Howard Coker attended the forum to defend the legal community and Floridians for Patient Protection, which he heads.
Coker refuted the Health Department’s position that high medical costs, including insurance premiums, are a result of exorbitant awards to plaintiffs in medical malpractice suits.
“Conveniently forgotten was the mention of nine states that do not have caps [on punitive damages] and had no increase in premiums,” said Coker. “In Missouri, a state that has caps, the number of claims is going down, the cost per claim is going down and yet the medical malpractice premiums are skyrocketing. According to the Medical Liability Monitor, states with caps have on average almost identical malpractice premiums to states that have no caps. So, who gets hurt? The patient. Restrictions on liability awards will not lower premiums. It’s not that simple. The real problem, we feel, in the medical malpractice insurance industry is the way it runs its business. The problem is the insurance industry and its poor planning. The Enron-type accounting that goes on is not the answer.”
Robert White, president of First Professionals Insurance Company, countered Coker’s remarks.
“The problem is a liberal court system,” said White. “There is no more malpractice today than there was 35 years ago. The solution is capping non-economic damages.”
Baptist Health president and CEO Hugh Greene concurred with White, citing negative changes in Florida’s health care system such as a decline in the affordability of medical care, insurers extraditing their Florida operations, doctors exiting the state or limiting their practice and the curtailment of needed hospital services — all of which he attributed to excessive litigation.
“Legislation is needed to avoid a medical meltdown,” said Greene.
Melinda Hause told the panel of her experience with the system.
“In 2001, my sister was admitted to a local hospital for a simple, routine surgery and was to be released within a few days,” she said. “I witnessed first hand the poor medical care and lack of attention my sister received. The only medical personnel that visited my sister’s room through the night was a nurse’s aide who incompetently recorded her blood pressure as 95/98. As a result of a lack of medical supervision, my sister went to sleep and died. I understand that we have a problem here in Florida but these solutions, frankly, are insulting and offend me. If the victims of medical malpractice cannot receive compensation for damages suffered in a court of law, then where? With reduced risk, health care institutions will relax professional standards even further. With a proposed limit on damages, you are attempting to treat the symptom rather than the problem. We should be meeting here today to discuss how health care standards can be raised, how to budget more training for health care professionals and how to more effectively implement the skills of support staff. Emphasis should be shifted to reducing the situations that require a medical malpractice investigation rather than eliminating the damages to those of us who are already victims. Do not put a limitation or price tag on the life of my sister.”