Opinion ID: 1787098
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 13

Heading: The Cap Encourages Health Care Providers to Remain in Wisconsin

Text: ś 292. In one term, this court has transformed the medical malpractice climate in this state. In Lagerstrom v. Myrtle Werth Hospital, 2005 WI 124, ___ Wis. 2d ___, 700 N.W.2d 201, the court eviscerated the statute modifying the collateral source rule in medical malpractice actions. In Phelps, the court held that medical residents are not health care providers covered by Chapter 655. And today, the majority delivers its masterstrokeâ the abolition of the statutory cap on noneconomic damages. ś 293. The majority dismisses any potential consequences, citing a GAO study's tentative conclusion that, doctors do not appear to leave or enter states to practice based on caps on noneconomic damages.... Majority op., ś 168. However, the GAO study included limited data from only five states. [61] The majority claims that these conclusions are supported by other reports and studies. Majority op., ś 169. This is simply incorrect. ś 294. The majority cites three other studies. The first is a student-written comment. [62] Far from supporting the majority's mistaken premise, this article relates anecdotal evidence of physician migration from states without a noneconomic damage cap. [63] The majority latches on to the article's recognition that the AMA has not declared Wisconsin a problem state, majority op., ś 169 n.227, but the majority misses the point. Wisconsin is not in a medical malpractice crisis because the legislature has addressed it through tort reform. By undoing the work of the legislature, the majority will drag Wisconsin back into the crisis. It is disingenuous to claim that Wisconsin is not experiencing a physician migration problem and use that as a reason to get rid of the cap, when the cap is one reason that Wisconsin has no migration problem at this time. ś 295. Another article cited by the majority cites the GAO study already discussed, as well as several newspaper articles, but adds no independent research to the question. [64] ś 296. The third article the majority cites is a policy paper presented to the Illinois State Bar Association and later the Illinois General Assembly. [65] The Illinois legislators obviously were not convinced by the assertions in the studyâ they enacted a $500,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice actions shortly thereafter. [66] ś 297. Only one study has comprehensively surveyed this question. In 2003, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services commissioned a study that evaluated data from 49 states over an extended time period. [67] This study concluded that States with a cap average 24 more physicians per 100,000 residents than States without a cap. Thus, States with caps have about 12 percent more physicians per capita than States without a cap. [68] ś 298. This effect is even more pronounced in Wisconsin. The same study evaluated the supply of physicians in Wisconsin over the years 1970-2000, and found that the physician population increased by 104.5% over that time span. [69] Meanwhile, the average supply in states without caps increased by only 79.1%â a difference of over 25%. [70] ś 299. Similarly, in Wisconsin, the Commissioner of Insurance reported increases in the number of physicians in Wisconsin in 2005. This conclusion forces the majority to explain away yet more evidence of the positive effects of the cap; according to the majority, the report is unreliable because the Commissioner did not expressly conclude that the positive effect was the result of the noneconomic damage cap. Once again, the majority doesn't let hard evidence get in the way of its preordained conclusion. ś 300. Yet another study, after evaluating substantial statistical data spanning 1980-1998, confirmed that enacting caps on non-economic damages is an effective way to attract and retain physicians. [71] The study went one step further, establishing that the increased number of physicians translated to increased availability of health care in some regions, statistically reducing infant mortality rates among African-American babies by 67 deaths per 100,000 births. [72] ś 301. A small dose of common sense compels the conclusion that doctors would prefer to practice medicine in a favorable legal environment. The quoted surveys confirm this notion. Accordingly, the legislature had a rational basis to conclude that the cap on noneconomic damages would encourage physicians to remain inâ or move intoâ Wisconsin.