Medical error bill advances

Measure would lift cap in some cases

By Michael Davidson , The Gazette

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Despite fierce opposition from doctors, a bill changing compensation for impairment or disfigurement from medical malpractice cleared its first hurdle Monday.

The Senate State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee approved Senate Bill 164 by a 3-2 party line vote. The bill now heads to the Senate floor for debate.

Victims of medical malpractice now can receive $300,000 for non-economic damages, which include physical impairment, disfigurement and diminished quality of life. The bill would raise that to around $450,000 to account for inflation, and impairment and disfigurement would not be subject to that cap.

Senate President Peter Groff, D-Denver, sponsored the bill, which he called moderate and reasonable. The changes are in the spirit of the 1988 Health Care Availability Act, which limited the amount doctors could pay if found guilty of malpractice, he said. Under that law, impairment and disfigurement weren't considered non-economic damages, but a law passed in 2003 changed that.

Doctors and lawyers testifying against Groff's bill said changing back would lead to a dramatic increase in malpractice insurance rates. The state's $1 million cap on damages a plaintiff can receive would become meaningless, opponents said, as the damages for impairment and disability would escalate. That would lead to more judges overriding the $1 million cap, which they can if there is proof that the economic damages caused by malpractice exceed that amount. Insurers would raise premiums to compensate.

Those testifying against the bill painted a bleak picture of how that would affect health care in Colorado. Dr. David Downs, president of the Colorado Medical Society, said it would become too expensive to work in rural areas or become a primary care physician, and the riskiest specialties would be understaffed because of fear of lawsuits. Doctors would prescribe unneeded tests to protect themselves from future lawsuits, and health care would become increasingly unaffordable.

In 2006, 13 malpractice cases went to trial in Colorado. Of the six cases won by the plaintiffs, five exceeded the $1 million cap.