• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

Medical Malpractice Reform Campaign Begins

Credentialing Resource Center Connection, January 6, 2005

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Credentialing Resource Center Connection!

President George W. Bush is in Illinois this week in an effort to renew his call for medical malpractice reform. Opponents of the plan are also preparing for a fight as the issue heats up in the Senate.

Mr. Bush wants Congress to pass a bill limiting damage awards in medical malpractice lawsuits. The president's visit highlights Madison County, Ill., which supporters of the reform measures have singled out as a particularly egregious area, where judges routinely award large settlements. The bill has been repeatedly passed by the House, but so far the Senate has refused to go along.

Trial lawyers and consumer groups hope to maintain the political stalemate, claiming that the damage limits would make it impossible for families of those who are injured or killed by negligent doctors to even find a lawyer to take their case. They also point out that damage caps do more to boost the profits of insurance companies than to decrease malpractice insurance premiums for doctors.

Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Credentialing Resource Center Connection!

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive