William Tauzin: “as a cosponsor of the amendment, let me first make the point that no one argues, no one can argue, that unnormally high…”

“as a cosponsor of the amendment, let me first make the point that no one argues, no one can argue, that unnormally high, runaway malpractice jury awards harms our health care. First of all, it raises costs, it absolutely raises the cost of medical malpractice insurance of physicians and gets passed on to all of us. Secondly, we all know what it does to physicians. It sends a chilling effect to physicians around the country who end up practicing defensive medicine; in fact, doing things not necessary, not required, just to protect themselves from the lawyers who might end up suing them. Today, we can do something about it. We can pass this amendment modeled after the California law. What is beautiful about this amendment is that not only does this amendment place some caps on those runaway charges that juries sometimes make that we all pay for, but it does so in a way that does not preempt the State law. For example, if your State caps noneconomic damages at $500,000, so be it. If your State has any cap on punitive damages, then your State law in that area is preserved. If your State wants to place a $500,000 cap on punitive damages 3 years from now, it is permitted to do so under this amendment. In short, our authors have put this amendment together in such a way that it helps a number of States restrain runaway malpractice costs and, at the same time, preserves your State's ability to do it differently if you want to do it differently in your State.”