Deputy district attorney condemns UMC ad supporting tort reform

By BRET SIGLER
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Deputy District Attorney Mary-Anne Miller on Friday condemned a publicly-funded University Medical Center advertisement that supported tort reform to curb doctors' skyrocketing malpractice insurance premiums.

Her opinion concluded that the ad violated Clark County policy that prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars to promote one side of a political issue.

It was unclear if the public hospital will face any sanctions.

Members of the medical center's board, the entity that would be responsible for handing down such sanctions, failed to return calls seeking comment Friday. The board is made up of county commissioners and is chaired by Commissioner Erin Kenny.

But Miller did say that physicians will pay for half of the cost of the full-page ad that ran in Sunday's combined edition of the Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun.

The payment would be considered "a reimbursement of what public funds were spent," she added.

Dale Pugh, assistant administrator for the hospital, said the physicians will only pay for half of the $9,243 ad because the district attorney's report cited problems with only the tort reform portion of it. The ad also thanked those who worked to reopen the hospital's Trauma Center after it closed for 10 days earlier this month because 58 doctors resigned over increasing malpractice insurance costs.

Miller said that any future medical center ads, whether publicly or privately funded, cannot come down on one side of an issue.

"UMC shouldn't run any of these ads in the future," Miller said. "They can thank people, they can accept donations, but it would have to be very careful in the language that it uses."

Pugh said the medical center has learned its lesson.

"If we're considering running an ad like this again in the future, then we'll have to clear the wording of it with the DA's office first," he said. "And we certainly will do that."

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