Obama to consider malpractice lawsuit curbs?
USA Today - Jun 15, 2009
One thing to look for in President Obama's health care speech today is how much he discusses medical malpractice lawsuits...

Obama urges doctors to back his health care plans
WGAL-TV, Lancaster, PA (Associated Press) - Jun 15, 2009
...There have been indications Obama has been quietly making a case for reducing malpractice lawsuits to help control costs, long a goal of the AMA and Republicans. Obama has not endorsed capping jury awards...

Daschle: Tort reform necessary in health care bill
WAVE-TV, Louisville, KY (Associated Press) - Jun 15, 2009
...The onetime Democratic leader in the Senate said he believes "tort reform is going to be on the table," and that it's important that all "stakeholders" in the looming debate be given a chance to be heard...

Civil trials waning, settlements on the rise
The Morning Call, Allentown, PA - Jun 15, 2009
...Reasons for the drop: An industry has developed for attorneys and retired judges who help arbitrate disputes. Pennsylvania has encouraged mediation efforts and has beefed up rules to discourage so-called frivolous lawsuits...

Opinion - Michelle M. Mello, JD, PhD, MPhil; and Troyen A. Brennan, MD, JD, MPH: The role of medical liability reform in federal health care reform
New England Journal of Medicine, MA - Jun 15, 2009
..Medical liability reform has garnered relatively little attention in the past two congressional sessions — in striking contrast to its prominence in previous federal health policy debates. The ebbing of the recent malpractice insurance "crisis" may have undercut momentum for liability reform, but a more important explanation relates to the politics of the issue...

State of emergency for med mal coverage
Crain's New York Business, New York, NY - Jun 14, 2009
A yearlong state moratorium on medical malpractice insurance rate hikes is set to expire on June 30, and that means long-simmering issues are about to boil over...

Afraid of malpractice suits, insurer drops doctors
Crain's New York Business, New York, NY - Jun 14, 2009
..It was not responding to anything the doctors had done but was reducing the company's exposure to medical malpractice suits by dropping doctors not employed directly through its insured hospitals...

Opinion - Ted Van Weeren: System leads to defensive doctors
The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, SC - Jun 14, 2009
...The cost of capricious and frivolous lawsuits and irresponsible awards in what some lawyers call "med mal" causes of action is paid by all users of health care resources. The practice has gotten totally out of hand, and has forced many physicians out of practice...

State lawmakers advised to delay health-care reform
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PA - Jun 13, 2009
..Under the bill, sponsored by Majority Leader Todd Eachus, D-Luzerne, the expanded program would be funded partly by a 2 percent tax on nonprofit health-insurance companies and a surplus in the state's fund that helps doctors pay malpractice premiums...

Editorial: Doctors and the cost of care
New York Times, NY - Jun 13, 2009
...None of the usual rationalizations put forth by doctors held up. The population, though poor, is not sicker than average; the quality of care people get is not superior. Malpractice suits have practically disappeared due to a tough state malpractice law, leaving no rationale for defensive medicine...

Editorial: Texas tort victories
Wall Street Journal, NY - Jun 13, 2009
...The plaintiffs-lawyer lobby spent $9 million in last year's state legislative elections to help smooth the way for these bills, which were designed to roll back tort reforms passed in recent years, or to create new ways to sue...

Those wary of health insurance reform may have ally in physicians
Insurance Journal, CA - Jun 12, 2009
...The group's position, she said, is that any "health reform that covers the uninsured must also include permanent Medicare payment reform, antitrust relief and medical liability protections."...