NewsWire

President Obama's recent comments about possible federal medical malpractice reforms are stirring a national debate over the best way to reign in healthcare costs. In Texas, where tort reform measures have been in place since 2003, the impact can be found on every corner and in every courtroom. In this special edition of Androvett NewsWire, three of the state's leading attorneys discuss the impact of Texas' reforms and what may lie ahead for the rest of the nation.

Healthcare Tort Law Best Left to States
Tort reform in Texas provides some valuable lessons for any federal healthcare reform package. "If there were to be federal legislation in an area, I think some aspects of the Texas medical malpractice laws are good," says defense attorney John Martin of Dallas' Thompson & Knight and incoming president of the Lawyers for Civil Justice. "I think the informed consent and expert reports parts are good, although the expert reports concept could be written much better than the one we have in Texas so that less litigation is required. However, my personal belief is that tort law should be handled at the state level, not the federal level."

Lawsuit Caps No Prescription for Healthcare Troubles
One look at the six years of tort reform in Texas should convince President Obama that the idea of national medical malpractice reform is a bad one, says nationally recognized trial attorney Mark Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm. "Doctors and insurance companies claimed tort reform was the cure for our state's healthcare problems, but six years of rising healthcare costs are all we have to show for it," says Lanier, who also disagrees with the President's hypothetical of keeping medical malpractice cases out of courtrooms by assigning them to special review panels. "Our founding fathers got it right by trusting juries to settle disputes rather than politicians or hired committees," he says.

Big Verdicts Still Possible Under Tort Reform, MedMal Caps
Even in a state such as Texas with caps on punitive damages in medical malpractice cases, large verdicts can still occur. "Once tort reform passed, we saw an immediate drop in lawsuits, but the number of filings began to rise as both plaintiff and defense attorneys learned the new rules and courts began interpreting the practical limits of the new rules," says Linda Stimmel of Stewart Stimmel LLP, a Dallas-based firm focused on health care law. "It is not a perfect system, but it has been very beneficial in reducing the number of frivolous lawsuits, allowing reasonable settlements because of the defined limits and allowing physicians to practice medicine without going broke trying to pay their insurance premiums."