Keep Tort Reform Out of Health Bill

In a blog at the Huffington Post (2/11), Joanne Doroshow wrote that survivors of medical malpractice “sent a letter [pdf] to President Obama today, as well as to the Congressional leadership.” They wrote, “We urge you to please keep additional ‘tort reforms’ out of the health insurance reform bill, beyond what the House and Senate have already agreed to. This would include proposals like “caps” on compensation for families who need these funds to survive; one-sided use of clinical guidelines as a means of removing accountability for providers (we believe patient safety will suffer from such a ‘one size fits all’ approach especially given conflicts of interest by those who would develop these guidelines); systems that involuntarily remove cases from the jury system; and any other proposal that is onerous, unfair to patients and prevents legitimate cases from going forward.”