Political Quotes

“this closed rule does a disservice to the legislative process. Medical malpractice is a very complicated issue, there are many different provisions, and we cannot possibly debate each one with a closed rule. The fact is that one-half of the medical malpractice premiums represent 1/2 of 1 percent of health care costs, and those costs have been going up at the same rate of health care inflation. California had medical malpractice reform, but the rates did not go down until there was insurance reform. This bill does nothing to eliminate frivolous lawsuits, but it makes the bona fide lawsuits even more difficult to bring. The elimination of joint and several liability means that you have to chase each and every doctor for each and every portion of their liability. The young Mexican girl with the transplant, one would have to prove a separate case against each and every company, the transplant company, the hospital, and everybody else before she could get anything. She would probably use up the whole $250,000 cap before she could get anything. The collateral source rule will shift the cost of malpractice onto the employer. If one has a self-insured employer, if one of their employees gets put in a malpractice-induced coma, the employer will have to pay the bill. This bill prohibits subrogation so that the employer cannot get the money back; the malpractice insurance company will not have to pay that hospital bill.”