Med Mal News

The New Jersey State Bar Association filed suit against the state in January seeking to repeal a $75 annual fee charged to attorneys that is intended to help defray the increased cost to health care providers for their malpractice insurance. Physicians and some other professionals are also being charge the $75 fee. The suit charges that the state has no basis on which to charge the fee, since it's made no specific finding that attorneys are responsible for increased medical malpractice insurance rates. It also equates the fee to an unconstitutional “taking” without due process and charges that use of the fund to help pay insurance premiums will be an unlawful use of public funds for a private purpose.

Bush on a Tort-Reform Campaign

President Bush told members of an economic summit meeting in mid-December that one of his priorities during his second term of office will be to pass legislation curbing medical malpractice lawsuits. Bush claims that such suits and the insurance rate increases they engender are driving medical practitioners out of the field. Other tort reforms endorsed by Bush would reign in asbestos claims and other class-action lawsuits. The members of the economic summit, all hand-picked by the Bush Administration, were solidly behind the President's reform ideas. However, Todd Smith, president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, was quoted by The Philadelphia Inquirer Dec. 16, saying, “President Bush's economic plan pretends that taking away the legal rights of American families will reduce health care costs. He unashamedly advocates legislation that would protect insurance industry profits and prohibit any punishment for the makers of dangerous drugs like Vioxx, while penalizing your mother for being abused in a nursing home or your daughter for having her baby killed by medical malpractice.” The President officially announced his campaign in January.

Insurer Asks For Steep Rate Hikes in Louisiana

The Baton Rouge Advocate reported in December that Pennsylvania-based insurer American Casualty Company applied to the State of Louisiana for a medical malpractice premium rate increase of 29.4%, to be charged to nurses, nurse practitioners, nursing students and pharmacists. Advocates for these professionals warn such increases could drive health care workers from the state.

New Jersey Attorneys Fighting Fees

The New Jersey State Bar Association filed suit against the state in January seeking to repeal a $75 annual fee charged to attorneys that is intended to help defray the increased cost to health care providers for their malpractice insurance. Physicians and some other professionals are also being charge the $75 fee. The suit charges that the state has no basis on which to charge the fee, since it's made no specific finding that attorneys are responsible for increased medical malpractice insurance rates. It also equates the fee to an unconstitutional “taking” without due process and charges that use of the fund to help pay insurance premiums will be an unlawful use of public funds for a private purpose.

Bush on a Tort-Reform Campaign

President Bush told members of an economic summit meeting in mid-December that one of his priorities during his second term of office will be to pass legislation curbing medical malpractice lawsuits. Bush claims that such suits and the insurance rate increases they engender are driving medical practitioners out of the field. Other tort reforms endorsed by Bush would reign in asbestos claims and other class-action lawsuits. The members of the economic summit, all hand-picked by the Bush Administration, were solidly behind the President's reform ideas. However, Todd Smith, president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, was quoted by The Philadelphia Inquirer Dec. 16, saying, “President Bush's economic plan pretends that taking away the legal rights of American families will reduce health care costs. He unashamedly advocates legislation that would protect insurance industry profits and prohibit any punishment for the makers of dangerous drugs like Vioxx, while penalizing your mother for being abused in a nursing home or your daughter for having her baby killed by medical malpractice.” The President officially announced his campaign in January.