Editorial: Tort reforms have worked as billed
Posted: 09/17/07 - 11:57:35 am CDT
The Mississippi trial lawyers who fought tort reform a few years ago claimed the changes wouldn’t do a thing to solve the state’s medical malpractice crisis.
Now that they have been proven wrong, their new line is that Republican Gov. Haley Barbour is taking undeserved credit for reforms that were instituted during the administration of his Democratic predecessor, Ronnie Musgrove.
Of course, the trial lawyers aren’t going to give the incumbent governor any credit. One of their higher profile members, John Arthur Eaves Jr., is running against Barbour in this year’s election.
It really doesn’t matter, though, whether the first swat at tort reform in 2002 under Musgrove’s watch or the subsequent improvements in 2004 under Barbour’s did the trick. It probably was both.
The important thing is that the legal climate, thanks to curbs on abuses of the civil justice system, has improved enough in Mississippi that physicians can once again find affordable insurance. And as a result, the state is slowly building back the number of physicians willing to practice in high-risk specialties.
This month, the state’s largest medical malpractice insurer, the Medical Assurance Co. of Mississippi, announced that it will be cutting its rates once again. In 2008, premium costs will be lowered by 15 percent. It will be the fourth straight annual reduction, accounting for an accumulated drop in insurance rates of 45 percent since 2004.
The reason that insurance costs are down is that the industry no longer has to fear a jury delivering an astronomical and unreasonable award for a plaintiff’s “pain and suffering.” Now under Mississippi law, such noneconomic damage awards are capped at $500,000. Injured parties who succeed in court can still expect to have all their medical costs covered and to be compensated for lost wages. They and their attorneys just won’t be able to use a malpractice claim as a route to untold riches.
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