Jerry Nadler: “in 1986 I and a number of other Members of this House were members of the New York Legislature and we took up the issue…”

“in 1986 I and a number of other Members of this House were members of the New York Legislature and we took up the issue of medical malpractice. We made so-called tort reforms, we limited joined and several liability, we limited ability of continent fees, and did a number of other things. But we also ordered a study to see what was really going on, what would really work to reduce malpractice premiums. Several years later, the Harvard study that we had ordered came down. What it showed is this: It showed that limiting damages for pain and suffering to a quarter of a million dollars would not reduce insurance premiums. It showed that 2 percent of the doctors were responsible for 80 percent of the claims and 80 percent of the awards, that the real answer to this problem of insurance premiums overwhelming the doctors is to tell the States to crack down on the 1 rac{1}{2} percent or 2 percent of the doctors who are killing and maiming people because they are incompetent and are driving up everyone else's insurance rates. Victimizing the victim further by this amendment is not the answer. Cracking down on incompetent doctors is the answer.”