Solution to Malpractice Costs Elusive; Many Doctors Want Award Caps to Curb Insurance Costs, but Opponents Say it Won't Solve Problem
Associated Press
January 27, 2003

The solution to rising medical malpractice insurance premiums shouldn't be jury award caps, some lawyers say.

"They're trying to solve the problem on the backs of the most seriously injured people," said Ken Suggs, a Columbia lawyer and secretary of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America.

A recent explosion of malpractice awards are not the cause of recent rate increases, opponents to award caps say. South Carolina Lawyers weekly reports the state had nine jury awards over $1 million last year, with half of them being malpractice cases.

Nonetheless, South Carolina doctors are joining calls from the American Medical Association for limits on what juries can award in medical malpractice cases. President Bush has asked Congress for malpractice award caps, saying "frivolous and junk lawsuits" are the primary cause of rising health-care costs.

Doctors find themselves squeezed between what health insurers are willing to pay and what malpractice insurers demand from them. Some wonder whether its worthwhile to continue.

. . .

South Carolina's medical malpractice insurance rates remain among the nation's lowest, lower than even in California, which has a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages in malpractice suits. The legislation behind that cap is considered a national model.

But the Americans for Insurance Reform, a coalition of consumer groups, says premiums rise and fall along with the economy -- reflecting insurers' gains or losses in the stock market.

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