House OKs medical malpractice bill

By Staff
SPECIAL SESSION – Pro-and anti-tort reform advocates and supporters watch Thursday as members of House Judiciary A Committee consider some rule changes for medical malpractice civil lawsuits at the Capitol in Jackson during the Special Session of the Legislature. AP Photo
Sept. 6, 2002
JACKSON (AP) The House approved a bill Thursday to put a $1 million cap on pain-and-suffering awards in medical malpractice cases.
Senators, though, made no progress in debating changes to rules that govern civil lawsuits.
Some Senate discussion is expected today as the Mississippi Legislature enters the second day of a special session. It's unclear when the two chambers might embark on negotiations to reach a final agreement.
The bill that cleared the House 102-18 did not address one key issue requested by Gov. Ronnie Musgrove creation of an insurance pool to cover doctors or other health care professionals who are having trouble renewing medical malpractice coverage.
I have gotten not one letter from a doctor who's saying, I want a risk pool.' Not one,'' said Rep. Percy Watson, D-Hattiesburg, chairman of the committee that wrote the House bill.
Medical negligence cases and jury awards are hot topics in Mississippi, where several insurance companies have stopped covering doctors. In some rural areas, doctors have closed their doors, forcing pregnant women and others to drive long distances for care.
The proposed $1 million cap doubles the House's original proposal of $500,000. Members said it would give them leverage in negotiating with senators, who are proposing a $250,000 cap.
In light of what's going on in our economy, $1 million is not that substantial,'' said Rep. Ed Blackmon, D-Canton, a lawyer.
His remark before a standing-room-only crowd during a committee meeting drew guffaws from lobbyists pushing for changes in Mississippi's civil justice system.
Musgrove called the special session for lawmakers to consider two subjects: a private prison spending bill and a plan to establish a medical malpractice insurance pool.
The prison proposal died within hours of the session's start, when appropriations chairmen said they would not bring it up for consideration.
During more than two hours of House debate on the medical malpractice bill, some members urged their colleagues to kill the proposal.
Rep. Willie Perkins, D-Greenwood, said the bill reminded him of the blues song, I Smell a Rat.''
I smell a rat because if the doctors don't want the risk pool insurance, why are we here?'' Perkins said. Are we not opening up the flood gates for the business folks to be here and say we want the same type of special treatment you're giving the doctors?''
Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, said he had problems with the bill, but he urged House members to support it. He said lawyers, doctors and others interested in the changes had compromised, but insurance companies had not.
It's virtually a travesty of where we are right now,'' Holland said. Insurance companies are getting loose scot-free, scot-free, and it's a shame.''
Watson said he hopes insurance companies will start writing more medical malpractice insurance in Mississippi if the state changes some rules on civil lawsuits.
On Thursday, a Senate panel reviewed a bill that members had worked on earlier in the summer, but a procedural argument prevented the full Senate from taking any votes before Friday.
Senators haggled over the Musgrove-backed proposal for an insurance pool. Peyton Prospere, a Musgrove staff attorney, said the governor believes the pool would help keep doctors and health care providers from fleeing rural areas of Mississippi.
The Capitol was packed with hundreds of people on opposing sides of the civil justice debate.
Trial lawyers and their clients, including some in wheelchairs, wore red and white stickers with the slogan People Before Profits'' and white buttons with a red slash through the words Tort Reform.'' Some wore T-shirts that said Victim'' or Say No To Drug Lobbyists.''
Health care workers and business people wore blue and white stickers with two slogans: Total Tort Reform Now'' and Save Mississippi Nursing Home and Caregiver Jobs.''
Businesses blame big-dollar verdicts for hurting the state's reputation and crippling economic-development efforts. Musgrove has said he will let legislators consider general changes to the civil justice system only after they handle both topics already on the session agenda.
The bill is House Bill 2.