COLUMBUS Senators tout limits of malpractice awards

State inconsistencies make a national bill key, the senators say.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- Medical liability is at a crisis level in the country right now, and federal legislation is needed to address it, the top Republican in the U.S. Senate said.
"It's not just talk now," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Friday before addressing doctors and others at an Ohio State Medical Association conference. "Right now ... it's really coming down to the frivolous lawsuits."
"Some lawsuits are good, and they are appropriate," said Frist, who is also a surgeon. "But if we get rid of these unnecessary lawsuits, I'm absolutely convinced we will be able to reverse the trend of driving physicians out of the practice of medicine."
Majority Senate Republicans are hoping to revive a bill to deal with the issue, said Republican Sen. George V. Voinovich of Ohio, who also attended the conference.
Measure's limits
In July, Senate Democrats killed legislation that would have capped awards for medical-malpractice victims, rejecting contentions from President Bush that caps would halt allegedly frivolous lawsuits and ease the health-care crisis.
The measure, similar to a bill that passed the House earlier this year, would have limited pain-and-suffering awards to $250,000.
Punitive damages would be capped at the greater of $250,000 or twice the amount of economic damages, which cover medical expenses, loss of wages, funeral expenses and similar costs. States would be permitted to enact higher limits.
"I'd like to bring the bill back," Voinovich said. "We have a good bill."
Frist said he thinks a national approach is needed because of an inconsistency in the states on the issue, and Voinovich agreed.
"We think that it needs to be done on the national level if we're going to address that problem, because it's more than just one state," Voinovich said.
Ohio measures
Last year, state lawmakers placed similar caps on medical-malpractice awards in Ohio. That law took effect in April.
Trial lawyers have opposed efforts to cap damages; business interests have supported it.
Also, a controversial Ohio Senate-passed bill to cap pain-and-suffering awards in civil jury trials and limit contingency fees for personal-injury lawyers remains pending in the Ohio House.
Provisions that would impose strict limits on asbestos-related lawsuits have been removed from the bill and will be considered as separate legislation in the Ohio House.