Malpractice bill stuck in deadlock
Wednesday, July 02, 2003
BY JOSH MARGOLIN AND JONATHAN SCHUPPE
Star-Ledger Staff
Lawmakers failed yesterday to break a stalemate on legislation designed to halt skyrocketing medical malpractice
insurance premiums for doctors in high-risk specialties such as obstetrics and neurosurgery.
The Assembly, in the midst of its marathon budget session, passed a bill to create a fund that would help some
physicians cover their increasing insurance costs. But the 41-37 vote did not resolve the issue, because it
differs widely from the malpractice reform bill that passed the state Senate in March.
And it won't be resolved anytime soon. With every seat in the Legislature up for election this November, neither
house plans to meet again until after the campaign season.
"They're at loggerheads and we're playing a pingpong game," said Al Porroni, counsel to the Legislature.
The stalemate made for an anti- climactic conclusion after months of buildup. Lawmakers began work late last year
on a plan to solve what doctors contend is a serious crisis.
Doctors and insurance companies have been pushing for caps on the amount of money juries can award to
malpractice victims for pain and suffering. Attorneys and patient groups oppose caps.
Over the months, there were protests outside the Statehouse and hearings inside, where malpractice victims and
their families alternated with physicians in testimony before committees. Then, doctors in the last
two weeks conducted a county-by-county "rolling job action" to pressure the Assembly to vote for the package they
endorsed.
The Senate bill includes limits on jury awards, but the Assembly version is closer to what Gov. James E.
McGreevey has indicated he would support.
"Caps would not help doctors in crisis immediately," Assemblywoman Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), an author of
the measure approved yesterday.
Assemblyman Eric Munoz (R- Union), a physician, warned that without caps, the number of medical students
going into the riskier specialties, in which doctors are charged more for insurance coverage, would decrease
and lead to sub-par medical care. "If we have an unlimited malpractice system, something else in the health system is
going to suffer," he said.
McGreevey spokesman Micah Rasmussen said the governor is disturbed that the two sides have focused almost
exclusively on the cap issue and not the immediate concern of physicians' premiums.
"The problem right now is rate relief for doctors," Rasmussen said. "The only immediate solution is to provide a
subsidy for doctors. Some of the single-mindedness about caps has prevented any kind of discussion
about any other solution and has squandered the opportunity for compromise along the way."
But doctors groups pushing for malpractice reform say caps are the main issue.
"I'm very disappointed that the Assembly did not act responsibly," said Robert
Rigolosi, past president of the Medical Society of New Jersey. "They did not even consider what doctors had presented to them, all the
reams and reams of material, all the proof and information we provided them. Premiums in the state of New Jersey are
going to go higher. Patient care is definitely going to suffer. The Assembly totally disregarded the
facts."
As a result of the vote, doctors around the state are continuing to prepare for another in a series of work
stoppages, on Oct. 7, Rigolosi said. He said many physicians would cease treating non-emergency patients
indefinitely "to make it a campaign issue."
The complex measure approved by the Assembly also imposes new time limits on lawsuits by injured minors, new
requirements for expert witnesses and tighter oversight of the medical malpractice industry by the
state insurance commissioner. In addition, it has provisions intended to protect physicians wrongly accused of malpractice.
The Assembly also granted itself subpoena power to examine the financial records of medical- malpractice
insurance companies. Rigolosi said, "I've been told by the insurance companies they'd be happy to provide
anything (the lawmakers) want."