During the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, calls to "change the system" in the United States weren't soon heeded -- or even welcome. Yet those calls persisted. Eventually, they changed the nation's course.
Sometimes changing the system is what it takes. The AAFP has now thrown its support behind a Senate bill proposing to do just that. Change the system for trying medical malpractice cases, that is.
Introduced by Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., the Reliable Medical Justice Act (S. 1518) would create as many as seven demonstration projects in states wishing to replace their current judicial systems for trying medical malpractice suits with other types of systems.
"Medical liability insurance premiums have increased across the nation, threatening patient access to medical services in some areas. A new vision for addressing this medical crisis is urgently needed," AAFP Board Chair Warren Jones, M.D., of Ridgeland, Miss., wrote in a Sept. 5 letter to Enzi.
The Enzi proposal offers three models for consideration as alternatives to current tort litigation:
"States could also apply for grants to implement a tort reform model other than these, if they could demonstrate how the model would make the medical liability system more reliable, enhance patient safety and maintain access to liability insurance," Jones noted.
A copy of his letter appears at http://www.aafp.org/x23999.xml.
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Copyright © 2003 by American Academy of Family Physicians.