Tort Reform: What Healthcare Professionals Need to Know

Chief Legal Officer Jason Newton shares a deep dive on tort reform in healthcare: what it means, why it matters for physicians and the industry, and how you can support efforts in your state. 

Keep reading to discover why and how you can get involved.

Key Takeaways:

• Tort reform definition: Legislative rules that help legally curb frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits on a state-by-state basis.
• This type of legislation is vitally important for helping physicians and healthcare professionals be able to do what they do best: practice good medicine.
• State appellate judicial races and who is elected can heavily influence whether tort reform efforts stick.

What Is Tort Reform—And Why Is It Important?

Tort reform refers to legislation or rules that curb nuisance medical malpractice lawsuits and/or that limit the amount of or impact of excessive verdicts. These measures essentially exist at the state level, making up a patchwork landscape that varies across the country.

Curi has been and continues to be a dogged participant and leader in introducing, advocating for, and maintaining legislation that attempts to allow environments for clinicians to focus on practicing good medicine, rather than fearing “gotcha” litigation and threats that are deeply personal and create a professional distraction.

The cost of out-of-control verdicts and excessive litigation isn’t just borne by those who deliver healthcare: Increased costs of medical professional liability insurance can ultimately be passed onto patients and can negatively affect patients’ access to care.^1,2

Caps on damages, or certain types of damages, exist today in several states thanks to legislation. However, these caps have also been struck down by appellate courts in numerous states (e.g., Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, and South Dakota).^3,4

State Appellate Judicial Races Matter

If all this feels a bit confusing, you’re not alone. In regularly talking with physicians around the country, I’ve come to learn that many healthcare professionals don’t fully understand the immense importance of statewide appellate judicial races, and the need to stay educated and vote with intention in those elections.

Judges elected to the statewide appellate courts ultimately determine whether tort reforms live on or end. As just one example, in Pennsylvania, the state supreme court recently unilaterally ended 20 years of venue reform, which immediately resulted in a spike of medical malpractice cases being filed in Philadelphia, even though in almost all cases causing the increase, zero care actually took place in Philadelphia.

As another example, North Carolina’s cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases, which has been in place for 14 years, is currently being challenged by the plaintiffs’ bar in the state’s appellate court. A decision has not yet been issued in that case.

State appellate judges can also uphold or dilute peer review privileges and evidentiary standards, and can affirm or eviscerate huge dollar jury verdicts that have no relation to the medicine or the facts. These judges have tremendous power, and their decisions materially impact their state’s medical professional liability environment and therefore the clinicians who live and work there.

Using Your Voice and Your Vote

When voters head to the polls, many know exactly who they intend to vote for in the higher profile political races at the “top of the ticket.” But when it comes to the “down ballot” races involving statewide judicial elections, you may be less likely to know much about the candidates and less likely to have a preconception about who you intend to vote for.

It’s understandable: Concrete information about candidates for these positions can be difficult to obtain and/or decipher. Good places to start looking? Trusted sources about medical professional liability, such as your state’s defense lawyer association or your state’s medical society. Occasionally, Curi will share information about judicial races.

At Curi, we encourage you to do as much research as possible before you head into the voting booth. There may be all kinds of professional and personal reasons that form the basis of your ultimate decision on how you vote. But guessing which judicial candidates to vote for is a lost opportunity to ensure the environment in your state is one that allows you to do what you do best without worry.

Bottom Line: The Time for Tort Reform Advocacy Is Now 

If you’re a physician or other clinician, your voice and your vote matter. Too much is at stake to sit idle. Curi will continue to be on the front lines of political advocacy, fighting for the institution and preservation of tort reforms around the country. But without your knowledge and ballot in these important elections, it’s only a matter of time before meaningful reforms may be taken away and deterioration of a state’s medical professional liability environment will occur.

Subscribe to the Curi blog and stay tuned to our News & Knowledge section for future updates on Curi’s tort reform advocacy efforts.

References:

1. American Medical Association. (2023, April 19). Surge in medical liability premiums increases reaches fourth year. https://www.ama-assn.org/press-center/ama-press-releases/surge-medical-liability-premiums-increases-reaches-fourth-year
2. Buttell, Amy. Deteriorating tort reform, legal, media, and provider environment roils MPL industry. Inside Medical Liability Online, Medical Professional Liability Association. https://www.mplassociation.org/Web/Publications/Inside_Medical_Liability/Issues/
   2023/articles/Deteriorating_Tort_Reform,_Legal_Media_and_Provider_Environment.aspx
3. The Florida Bar. (2017, July 1). Court rules med mal caps unconstitutional. Florida Bar News. https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/court-rules-med-mal-caps-unconstitutional
4. Reeves, John M. (2021, June 16). Allowing tort reform to proceed… The Washington Legal Foundation, WLF Legal Pulse. https://www.wlf.org/2021/06/16/wlf-legal-pulse/allowing-tort-reform-to-proceed-statutory-caps-on-damages-the-right-to-jury-trial-and-the-missouri-supreme-court