Help lower malpractice premiums

To the editor:

I am concerned about the escalating expense of medical malpractice insurance in Missouri. These premiums are the product of upwardly spiraling, out-of-control medical liability awards. Missouri is losing quality physicians to states where liability insurance is not so expensive.

As a practicing physician in Independence and Blue Springs, I would like to urge our state legislators to pass House Bill 393, which limits non-economic damages to a specific and reasonable amount. It also requires that malpractice lawsuits be filed within the jurisdiction where the event occurred, not allowing plaintiff's attorneys to choose their judge based on a previous history of decisions. It limits each physician's responsibility for an award to the percentage of fault determined by a court.

When this bill becomes law, I hope insurers will be forced to lower their premiums. This easing of premiums will allow doctors to affordably carry malpractice insurance and continue practicing in Missouri. In my experience, it is the patients who benefit the most from affordable, efficient health care.

Dr. MARY M. WURTZ, Lee's Summit, Mo.