The 104th Congress has devoted an increasing amount of attention to the issue of medical malpractice and health care liability. Although many would seek to characterize the argument as one between the trial lawyers and the AMA, lost in that simplistic scenario is the fact that if new federal limitations on access to justice are enacted, the average American health care consumer will pay the price in the form of uncompensated medical injuries and lower quality health care.
Medical malpractice is a widespread and serious problem in our society.
Studies have established that it is the third leading cause of preventable death, second only to those deaths associated with cigarette smoking and alcohol abuse. More than 1.3 million hospitalized Americans, or nearly 1 in 25, are injured annually by medical treatment, and about 100,000 such patients, or 1 in 400, die each year as a direct result of such preventable injuries. Against this backdrop, the Republicans are now seeking to radically restructure the traditional state medical malpractice compensation system. These proposals would decimate a state tort law system which has traditionally offered us the least regulatory means of ensuring that minimum standards of health care are observed and innocent victims of malpractice are compensated. The concept of unilaterally preempting state law is particularly puzzling coming from a party whose rhetoric so strongly purports to favor state rights.