Submitted to the Daily Herald -- Printed 1/18/10
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=351471

Dear Editor:

One of the most important – yet most overlooked – aspects of health care reform is medical liability reform.  As long as doctors are getting hit with multimillion-dollar malpractice judgments that often correlate little with the actual damages suffered, a hostile malpractice litigation environment will prompt doctors to flee.

Five years ago, Illinois was in a state of crisis, with doctors fleeing the state due to medical litigation costs and an intimidating legal climate.  As a result, patients were reporting difficulty in finding access to specialty care.  To remedy the situation, our state lawmakers in 2005 enacted an important reform law.  The law worked quickly to rectify the situation, with numerous reports of much-needed medical specialists – neurosurgeons, OB/GYN and orthopedic surgeons -- returning to practice here, many citing liability reform as a primary reason for choosing Illinois.  

This important law is currently under challenge in the Illinois Supreme Court.  Spearheaded by trial lawyers who have a vested interest in resisting change, this challenge flies in the face of a Congressional Budget Office report anticipating $54 billion in savings on health care nationwide over the next decade if medical liability reforms are enacted. The sad fact is that prospects for national liability reform are bleak. The same trial attorneys attacking Illinois’ reforms are hard at work on Capitol Hill. That’s why preserving our state’s hard-won reforms is so important.   The public understands the importance of reform; a November Associated Press poll shows that 54 percent of Americans support making it harder to sue doctors!  There is a mountain of evidence from other states that medical liability reform works, and that people want it.  That’s why Illinois enacted reform.  If the trial lawyers succeed, however, we will again be at a huge disadvantage in preserving our medical community and ensuring patient access to care. Let’s hope the Supreme Court has the courage to stand up for the needs and desires of the people of Illinois by upholding these liability reforms.

Sincerely,

Steven M. Malkin, MD
President-Elect, Illinois State Medical Society