July 2010
Since we physicians and our advocates exercised our political muscle in 2001 and 2003, leading to medical liability reform that is the envy of the nation, we have remained ever vigilant with regard to potential court threats that could undo our hard-fought and hard-won reforms. We all realize that these reforms enabled the formation of your Mutual and created an environment where your Mutual could thrive by dramatically reducing frivolous lawsuits that caused our state to be a significant outlier in comparison to other states. This, in turn, has led to the ability of your Mutual to dramatically reduce malpractice insurance premiums down to much more affordable levels. Most importantly, West Virginians have been able to continue to enjoy high quality healthcare as a result of a cessation of the exodus of physicians from our state prior to the reforms. Indeed, there has been an actual increase of around 250 physicians actively practicing in our state since 2004. Furthermore, research has documented a significant reduction in the percentage of the uninsured in states that have caps on non-economic damages, presumably due to a reduction in defensive medicine costs making health insurance more affordable. However, we all know that we are just one bad state Supreme Court decision away from a return to the bad old days and another crisis.
Recent experience in Illinois, Washington and Georgia offers a cautionary tale to all West Virginia physicians. The Illinois Supreme Court recently struck down, for the third time since 1976, caps on non-economic damages as unconstitutional, throwing that unfortunate state back into turmoil. Late last year, the State of Washington’s Court struck down their Certificate of Merit requirement, which will allow lawyers to once again file lawsuits, without discretion, against Washington physicians. Most recently, in March 2010, the Georgia Supreme Court struck down the amount of money that people can recover in addition to their economic losses in medical liability cases. This repeal of the non-economic damage caps put in place by the Georgia Tort Reform Act of 2006 does not bode well for Georgia physicians. Insurance companies who insure physicians in Illinois, Washington or Georgia will more than likely be adversely affected by these court decisions.
It has long been my belief that our absolute best chance for keeping our reforms intact is to stand united under the banner of a West Virginia company, as the West Virginia Supreme Court should be less inclined to create havoc with us than with a faceless out-of-state, for-profit company. Your Mutual is that West Virginia company. We must remain united.
As you know, we are in an election year. I would urge you to be an active part of the process in choosing those who will govern our state in the coming years. We need to protect that which we already have by electing a legislature and judiciary that supports healthcare providers and their patients. Otherwise, we will return to the conditions of a few years ago where physicians could no longer tolerate the adverse legal environment that produced exorbitant malpractice premiums. We must act now to control our own destiny and thereby ensure the continuing outstanding success of your Mutual in “Physicians Insuring Physicians.”
Sincerely,
R. Austin Wallace, M.D.