Malpractice tort reform is needed

By Dr. Ed Masters

This is in response to the March 3 guest column, "Malpractice 'reforms' go too far," by Michael Maguire.

With 80 percent of malpractice suits filed nationally and 70 percent in Missouri being deemed frivolous, the dog that didn't bark in Maguire's column was the absolute absence of any mention of lawyers' contribution to the crisis.

Maguire stated, "There has been no change in the volume of cases in the past five years."

I assume he used Missouri Department of Insurance numbers, but they do not include self-insured entities nor the Missouri Insurance Guaranty Association, which includes companies with more than 700 claims in 2001. This results in under-reporting of dollars paid by one-third.

By far the most reliable claims data is from the National Practitioner Data Bank, where claims are required by law to be reported. When specific Missouri claims are compared, the Department of Insurance numbers are off by 50 percent on the low side. The case volume has definitely increased.

Maguire said "average payouts have stayed virtually the same for the past decade."

That is patently false. The average claim paid in 1990 was $97,792. In 2001, it was $202,358. The loss ratios for Missouri malpractice insurance companies did not stay unchanged but increased 53 percent in the four-year period ending in 2001.

Maguire vilifies the insurance companies.

I am certainly no apologist for them, but if this is such a gravy train for insurers, why were there 32 insurers licensed to write professional liability polices in Missouri in 2001 and now we are down to only three? If gouging Missouri physicians is so profitable, why aren't insurers flocking to Missouri? Instead, we have had a 90 percent decrease in three years.

Maguire complains that tort reform does not also focus on insurance regulation.

The Missouri Constitution strictly forbids legislative bills from containing more than one subject. Insurance-reform legislation is being addressed, but on a separate track.

Maguire also knows that the recent Scott decision (I call it the Dreadful Scott Decision) gutted a significant part of the 1986 solution he touts.

Doctors and legislators are trying to reform a system whereby excellent doctors are paying more than $75,000 a year for insurance right here in Cape Girardeau, and other doctors are limiting their practices. Patients end up paying for this.

It doesn't matter how much insurance your doctor is carrying if he moves to another state to practices. Missouri lawyers are perilously close to killing the goose that laid the golden egg for trial attorneys.

Finally, trying to change a system that gives the victims only 43 cents of every malpractice premium dollar is not "going after the victims."

Maguire closed by urging you to tell legislators to "deal with the real problem." They are, and it includes reforming a legal system that has a choke hold on our state's economy.

Again, only 70 percent of Missouri malpractice cases have merit. Can you imagine if your doctor got it right only 30 percent of the time? Think about it, and then tell you legislators to continue with their tort-reform efforts.

Dr. Ed Masters is president of the Cape Girardeau County Area Medical Society.