Lawsuit reform improves access to medical care

Unlimited medical liability awards are becoming a thing of the past, and apparently that is quite disturbing to personal injury lawyers.

Presumably, the recent changes in Texas law have financially hurt Tim Maloney, which may explain why this plaintiff's lawyer misled readers and vastly overstated his case in his comment "Exposing the lie of tort reform" (Views, Dec. 18).

The fact is that injured patients are still taking their claims to court as they did in the past. Million-dollar settlements are still occurring. Only the hard-to-quantify injury of emotional distress has been capped and that at a cumulative $750,000. Medical bills, lost earnings, rehabilitation, custodial care and judgment interest remain uncapped.

Lawsuit filings are down since the passage of Proposition 12, which is probably good, being that the vast majority of pre-reform cases were being resolved with no payment made to the patient, suggesting that many of these suspect suits should never have been filed.

Proposition 12 offered a trade-off: a limit on pain-and-suffering-type awards in exchange for improved access to care; and indeed that improved access is occurring.

Bexar County has added more than 300 physicians since the reforms were passed two years ago. For the first time in memory, the local physician growth rate is higher than the state average.

Because of the reforms, Christus Santa Rosa will save $2.6 million in liability costs this year alone. These savings are being reinvested in the community in the form of new patient services, safety improvements, grants for nurse training and expansion of their already high level of charity care.

With the exception of personal injury lawyers, most San Antonians appreciate these benefits as a worthy social compromise.

By the way, thanks to the Proposition 12 reforms, my medical liability insurance premiums have gone down 22 percent over the past two years. This has allowed me to continue to treat Medicaid, Medicare, uninsured and underinsured patients.

” Robert W. Kottman, MD, Fellow of the American College of Emergency Physicians