Just a thought on Tort Reform...

The Law Bulletin published an article called "Doctors' med-mal payouts now detailed on state Web site" (see entire article below).

As you all know, Illinois Tort Reform refers to a series of changes made to Illinois law including caps on non-economic damages and numerous other provisions designed to limit frivolous lawsuits, reduce judgments, regulate the medical malpractice insurance industry, and increase the state’s oversight of physicians. One of the Tort Reform provisions was an “inseverability” provision, which means that if any one provision of the Tort Reform was found unconstitutional, all would be deemed invalid.

Bottom Line:

Now that Cook County has declared Tort Reform unconstitutional, I submit that all of the new regulations that are part of Tort Reform are also invalid. It seems inherently unfair and against the plain language of the "inseverability" provision to force defendants to adhere to the regulations placed upon them by Tort Reform, when Tort Reform in Cook County has been declared unconstitutional.




April 09, 2008 Volume: 154 Issue: 070
Doctors' med-mal payouts now detailed on state Web site
By Pat Milhizer
Law Bulletin staff writer

The state has launched a Web site that lets users find out whether Illinois doctors have been involved in recent medical malpractice settlements or verdicts.

The release of the information, which stems from a compromise made when state lawmakers approved caps on pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice cases, is available at www.idfpr.com under the ''Physician Profile'' feature.

Since the site made its debut on Friday, it has received more than 80,000 hits, said Susan Hofer, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

''It's clear that there are a lot of people who want to know more about their doctors,'' Hofer said.

And there's plenty of information that wasn't available before.

Visitors can search for a doctor by county, specialty or hospital affiliation.

They also can learn about educational backgrounds, where offices are located, whether doctors are accepting new patients and whether they participate in certain state and federal programs.

Doctors are required to provide that information before license renewal takes place in July. So far, 85 percent of the roughly 44,000 doctors have updated their profiles, Hofer said.

Insurance companies and the courts are expected to provide the state with information regarding medical malpractice settlements and judgments. The site will provide the size of the settlement or verdict and the county in which the lawsuit was filed.

''It gives you a new question to ask that doctor when you're talking to him or her,'' Hofer said. ''You and I both know that settlements don't necessarily mean that the doctor did anything wrong, or that he or she is a bad doctor. It's just another question to ask.''

The Web site lists information for incidents dating back five years, and the same five-year period applies to criminal convictions that will be available on the site.

Before the malpractice caps became law in 2005, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich said he approved of the limits on the condition that doctors provide the public with the information that is now online, Hofer said.

Another feature of the compromise was that companies that sell medical malpractice insurance must release their risk data to the public. As a result, nine of the 10 companies that write those policies reduced their rates in 2007, Hofer said.

Another result of the law is that the state has more time to determine whether a doctor exhibits a pattern of problems when a complaint of gross negligence comes before the state.

Under the malpractice-cap law, plaintiffs in medical negligence cases can receive a maximum of $500,000 from physicians and no more than $1 million from hospitals to cover non-economic damages such as pain and suffering.

Supporters said that the law was needed to prevent doctors from leaving Illinois due to the high costs of malpractice insurance that stemmed from jury awards.

Trial attorneys are challenging the constitutionality of the limits, and they hope the matter will be resolved by the Illinois Supreme Court. Last November, a Cook County judge ruled that the caps violate victims' rights.

It's unclear what would happen to the Web site should the Supreme Court rule that the malpractice-cap law is unconstitutional.

''I can't comment. I have no way of knowing,'' Hofer said. ''Certainly if a judge says we don't have the statutory authority to do this, we're not going to do it. But we're hopeful that's not the case.''