Dozens of national and state consumer, health, labor, legal and public interest groups are urging house leaders to oppose a bill that would establish a cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases.
Eighty organizations on Tuesday signed a letter addressed to House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., asking the leaders to oppose the legislation during a House vote Wednesday.
Under the bill — H.R. 1215: The "Protecting Access to Care Act of 2017" — compensation for noneconomic damages in cases of medical negligence, harm due to prescription drugs and patient abuse or neglect in nursing homes would be capped at $250,000, according to the letter.
"Even if H.R. 1215 applied only to doctors and hospitals, recent studies clearly establish that its provisions would lead to more deaths and injuries, and increased healthcare costs due to a 'broad relaxation of care,'" the groups wrote in the letter. "Add to this nursing home and pharmaceutical industry liability limitations, significantly weakening incentives for these industries to act safely, and untold numbers of additional death, injuries and costs are inevitable, and unacceptable … Congress should focus on improving patient safety and reducing deaths and injuries, not insulating negligent providers from accountability, harming patients and saddling taxpayers with the cost."
Proponents of the law argue it will reduce healthcare costs by lowering medical malpractice insurance premiums and reducing the practice of defensive medicine, whereby physicians order medically unnecessary tests or treatments to protect themselves from possible litigation.
To read the full letter, click here.
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