The present flawed health care liability system increases the cost of medicine, decreases its quality and jeopardizes all Americans' access to health care providers. This amendment is a bipartisan, reasonable effort to address the problems in many states resulting from a legal system lacking in balance and fairness. We urge you to support this amendment. Although for obvious reasons punitive damages are not frequently awarded in health care tort actions, skyrocketing awards have been documented over the last two decades in product liability and health care contract actions.
Some reasonable limits are in order.
We believe that the solution for punitive damages in health care liability actions should be consistent with the solution in product liability actions. We are sending a copy of this endorsement letter to each of your colleagues. Your amendment is a record vote for our organization, and we will do all that we can to insure the amendment's success on the floor of the Senate.