Arizona Doctors Seek Protection Against Malpractice Suits

In the near future, Arizona patients may be asked to waive their right to sue doctors before they receive medical treatment as a way to cut malpractice costs.  Doctors voiced their concerns regarding the trend of malpractice suits during strategy sessions attended by business leaders and local politicians.  At these sessions, the overwhelming opinion about this trend is that it is causing the country’s health care system to suffer and that it is only getting worse. 

Some of the strategies emphasized at the strategy sessions included doctors lobbying their patients for reform, shifting to a contract law system where patients agree to waive their rights to sue, and paying injured patients over time rather than one lump sum payment. Arizona politicians believe that tort reform is needed to reduce what they call “lawsit abuse”. 

Republican Senator, Jon Kyl, tried to pass federal legislation that would limit lawyer fees to $2,000 per hour, then $10,000 per hour, and all the way up to $20,000 per hour, but the bill failed because it won only 37 votes in the Senate. 

Kyl favors federal efforts to limit awards on punitive damages.  Some states that have limited these awards have experience relief from rising medical malpractice premiums.  These caps have only stunted the growth of premiums, but have not decreased the rates.