Doctors,Lawyers Respond to Caps

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by Lesley R. Chinn

While 2,200 doctors from theAmerican Medical Association welcomedPresident Barack Obama's suggestionsincluding ideas on storing medicalrecords electronically at the AMA'sannual conference this past week,Obama received a chilly response fromthe audience when he rejected placingcaps on medical malpractice lawsuits.Obama was the first president to addressthe AMA since Ronald Reagan in 1983.

Calling caps "unfair" to patients whoare "wrongfully harmed," Obama did abalancing act and said on the other hand,he recognizes how doctors feel whenthey constantly have to look over theirshoulders for fear of being sued. Headded any health overhaul will be hardto accomplish without changing problemsassociated with caps.

Dr. Nancy Nielsen, AMA's outgoingpresident, said Obama's comments onmalpractice cap awards weren't surprisingsince he has voiced opposition tothem in the past. But Nielson praised thepresident for hearing doctors' concernsabout practicing "defensive medicine"such as ordering medical tests to avoidlawsuits.

"We're talking about serious injuriesthat prevent people from functioningnormally," Atty. Chester Slaughter,owner of Chester Slaughter andAssociates said. Praising Obama forspeaking out against caps he said, "Ifyou damage someone very, very seriouslyas a result of what happened in thehospital, I think you should be entitled towhatever the judge or jury says,"Slaughter said.

The U.S. spends more than $2 trillionannually on healthcare, although 15 percentof the U.S. population does nothave medical insurance. In a releasedstatement, Dr. James L. Milam, presidentof the Illinois State MedicalAssociation, said liability costs make upone percent of all health care spending.While it may not seem like a big deal,Milan pointed out that "a mere one percentequal tens of billions of dollars outof the trillions of dollars spent annuallyon health care." He questioned whetherthat money would be better spent coveringthe insured rather than enriching personalinjury lawyers.

In his speech, Obama announced that$313 billion will be saved to help reformhealthcare. He said the savings by cuttingwaste in the Medicare program andMedicaid would "rein in unnecessaryspending and increase efficiency and thequality of care." The president proposeda 10-year reform program estimated tocost $1 trillion that would make healthcareavailable to all Americans and comparedthe U.S. with the country's ailingcar industry. "A big part of what ledGeneral Motors and Chrysler into troublewere the huge costs they racked upproviding healthcare for their workers---costs that made them less profitable andless competitive with automakersaround the world. "If we do not fix ourhealth care system, America may go theway of GM---paying more, getting less,and going broke," Obama added. Underhis health insurance exchange plan,Americans would be allowed to choosebetween private plans and a publicoption that will "inject competition intothe health care market," which wouldalso force waste out of the system andkeep the insurance companies honest.The money comes on top of the $635billion down payment on reformdetailed in the budget proposal submittedto Congress this year.

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