Lawmakers Pressured To Address Malpractice Issue

By Susan Haigh

Associated Press

HARTFORD –– A week after Gov John G. Rowland called for caps on certain medical malpractice awards, patients’ rights group urged state legislators last week to instead focus on medical negligence.

Jean Rexford, director of Connecticut Patients Rights, said too much emphasis has been placed on alleviating the rising cost of doctors’ medical malpractice insurance and not enough on addressing the costs to people injured by physicians.

The group supports legislation requiring hospitals and doctors to submit standardized reports of medical mishaps to the Department of Public Health. Connecticut Patients Rights also called for strong enforcement of those requirements and protection for whistle-blowers who point out medical errors.

“Connecticut ranks 40th in the country in disciplining doctors. That’s not because we don’t have our share of bad physicians,” said George Meder of Beacon Falls, whose 3-year-old daughter died after outpatient surgery three years ago.

“It’s because nothing happens to the doctors who commit the errors,” Mr Meder said.

Representatives of the group testified September 18 before the legislature’s Program Review and Investigations Committee. The committee is examining the malpractice issue and plans to come up with recommendations for new legislation when the full General Assembly returns to the Capitol in February.

Committee staff plan to offer recommendations in December.

Mr Rowland last week said he wants lawmakers to take up the issue in special session next month. Mr Rowland, who supports a proposed $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases, said he believes lawmakers should not wait until February.

Many doctors, he said, are leaving the state because they cannot afford the rising cost of malpractice insurance in Connecticut.

“What will it take to get relief form these unbearable premiums increases?” asked Tim Norbeck, executive director of the Connecticut State Medical Society.

Noneconomic damages include punitive damages and awards for pain and suffering. Economic damages include lost wages and medical costs.

According to a preliminary report prepared by the committee’s staff, insurance premiums increased 54 percent from 1998 to 2002. Nationally, the increase was 25 percent. The jumps vary by medical specialty and malpractice insurer.

A group of lawmakers has been studying the issue, and a spokesman for Speaker of the House Moira Lyons said she will likely talk to the group before deciding whether to take up the issue in a special session.