IN August 2002, the trauma center at Charleston Area Medical Center was downgraded by state officials because it did not have enough orthopedic surgeons and other specialists to keep it staffed properly around the clock.
David Ramsey, president and chief executive officer of CAMC, said the hospital had trouble recruiting and retaining doctors "West Virginia's medical liability insurance crisis has exacerbated an already existing problem," he said.
The Legislature had ignored the problem in its regular session that spring. But by the next January, medical tort reform was Job 1 for lawmakers.
A record eight delegates from Kanawha County wound up on the House Judiciary Committee as they worked to reform a medical liability system that discouraged doctors from practicing in this state.
So much for the contention by trial lawyers that their lawsuits "improve" medical care.
Tort reform has helped recruitment. Four years later, CAMC has recruited almost 100 new doctors, the hospital's chief operating officer, Dr. Glenn Crotty Jr., told the Daily Mail's Jake Stump. "We were at almost zero (new recruits) before tort reform," Crotty said. "And we had several doctors leaving."
Caps on non-economic damages and on trauma care damages have worked. "The caps have brought more doctors into our program," Crotty said.
Medical malpractice claims have dropped by about half across the state, he said. This improved the market for private insurance and allowed smaller, rural hospitals to obtain coverage.
The success of tort reform in the emergency room should be duplicated elsewhere. The Legislature should make things easier for other professions and businesses without cutting off the rights of injured parties.
The medical malpractice reform of 2003 does not
have to be the end. It should be the beginning of reining in a civil court
system that is woefully weighted against business.