John Ensign Nevada Republican seeking caps on medical malpractice jury awards
WASHINGTON -- With Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., as their point man, Republicans are planning a new push for caps on jury awards and limits on how much personal injury lawyers can collect from medical malpractice lawsuits.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., plans to set aside time next week to take up an Ensign bill advertised as a way to control health care costs by discouraging large payouts to patients who sue doctors and hospitals for mistreatment.
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Republicans say excessive jury awards are to blame for large increases in premiums doctors must pay for malpractice insurance. Some doctors have responded by relocating to friendlier, less litigious states, limiting their patient loads or leaving medicine altogether.
But the medical liability issue has proven a thorny matter and consensus has eluded powerful groups of doctors, lawyers and insurance firms who have long been at odds.
The latest GOP effort will mark the fourth time since 2003 that the Senate will have tackled medical malpractice.
As in the earlier efforts that fell short, Senate Democrats led by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., have signaled they will oppose the Republican approach of capping awards and fees as a way to address a medical crisis.
"This is basically the same old bill. It has been tweaked a little, but the changes are cosmetic. It is the same thing the GOP has pushed all along," Reid spokeswoman Sharyn Stein said. "Reid has opposed it and will continue to oppose it."
Democrats say limits on malpractice awards deny justice to patients who have been harmed by bad doctors. They charge insurance industry practices are to blame for high premium rates for malpractice coverage.
Ensign, Frist, Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, promoted the GOP bill at a rally Thursday attended by medical students and health workers.
Ensign described his bill as a "compromise" from earlier versions. A key part is based on a Texas law limiting plaintiffs to collect up to $750,000 for "pain and suffering" depending on how their suits are structured.
