Investor's Business Daily posted an article Friday about the success of tort reform in Texas. Texas instituted tort reform about six years ago to solve its
There were three basic areas of change in the tort laws:
1. In order to sue a medical care provider, an expert report was required within120 days of filing the suit stating that the doctor being sued committed a medical error that caused injuries. This meant that medical evidence had to accompany the suit--cutting down on the number of frivolous lawsuits.
2. A cap was placed on noneconomic damages. In Texas, that cap only applies to those damages that are not capable of an objective value,
According to the article:
"The combination of prohibiting doctors and health care providers from being exposed to unlimited and arbitrary awards, and requiring an actual medical report at the outset, have cut the number of medical malpractice lawsuits in Texas in half."
3. The law was changed so that the actual lawsuit amount paid had to equal the actual amount paid by the claimant in expenses.
What are the consequences of these three simple changes in the law? According to the article:
"These common-sense reforms have led to a massive increase in the accessibility of health care in Texas, huge growth in the capital infrastructure of hospitals and clinics, hundreds of millions of dollars more each year in charity care and Texas' adding more than 16,000 new doctors in just six years.
"And in reducing the actual number of suits to those in which claims are meritorious -- a recent Harvard study concluded that up to 85% of all lawsuits brought against medical providers were frivolous -- we have created a more equitable system of justice."
The lesson of Texas tort reform is very simple--common sense can solve a problem without having to spend billions of dollars. I wish Congress were paying attention to that lesson.
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