Advantages of Tort Reforms to the Medical Community

[Charles19]

The HB4 bill passed by the Texas state legislature addressed issues such as limits on noneconomic damages; product liability reform; punitive damages; medical liability reform joint and several liability; and class action reform. The Texan medical community have greatly benefited from the reforms made to the Judicial System. It is evident in the following events that took place after the amendments:
· The American Medical Association dropped Texas from its list of states in medical liability crisis (Houston Chronicle, 5/17/05).
· Physician recruitment and retention are up, particularly in high risk specialties whereas the malpractice claims are down (Houston Chronicle, 5/17/05).
· The five largest Texas insurers cut rates, which will save doctors about $50 million, according to the AMA (Houston Chronicle, 5/17/05).
· Texas Medical Liability Trust, the state's largest liability carrier, reduced its premiums by 17 percent (Houston Chronicle, 5/17/05).
· Health Care Indemnity, the state's largest carrier for hospitals, cut rates by 15 percent in 2004 (Associated Press, 2/16/05).
· American Physicians Insurance Exchange and The Doctor's Company also reduced premiums (Associated Press, 2/16/05).
· The American Physicians Insurance Exchange saw a $3.5 million reduction in premiums for Texas physicians in 2005. In addition, beginning May 1, 2005, 2,2000 of the 3,500 physicians insured by the company would see an average drop of 5 percent in their premiums (The Heartland Institute, 5/1/05).
All the above events prove that there has been a positive impact of the Tort Reforms on the Texan economy. Texans for Lawsuit Reforms have been active in tort reforms which make the judicial system, equally fair and balanced to everyone in the society. Founded by Mr. Dick Weekley, the organization’s objective is to restore litigation to its traditional and appropriate role in our society.

[hot dragon]

i find it interesting reading about the american legal system and the american medical system. from australia, both look utterly ridiculous. from anywhere in the world, both look utterly ridiculous.

it is encouraging to hear of them being reformed. hopefully you will all realise that lawyers are not the perfect solution to medical problems, that exhorbitant malpractice premiums and a focus on defensive medicine damage health care delivery.

no doubt some will write this off as a rort by doctors to have their costs reduced without benefit to patients. these changes will let your doctor focus on you. this is a change in your interests.

who knows, you might be lucky enough to have a society wide universal health insurance service soon. its been on the cards for a long time, and here is a precedent that they system your doctors work under can be changed.