If Maryland is to avoid the severe shortage of doctors predicted last week in a report to Gov. Martin O’Malley, physicians’ vulnerability to unjustified malpractice liability suits must be fixed as soon as possible. The report — prepared by health care experts from Maryland hospitals — said malpractice insurance rates are too high and must become competitive. It proposed “caps on noneconomic damage awards equal to Texas’ $250,000.” Adopting the Texas cap in Maryland would prevent legitimate awards for medical mistakes from turning into “jackpot justice” that enriches plaintiffs’ lawyers and drives doctors to practice elsewhere. The report also called for “alternative dispute resolution mechanisms,” echoing a similar report to Gov. Robert Ehrlich in 2004 that recommended greater use of mediation and voluntary binding arbitration instead of court trials. Those efforts ought to be redoubled. Another good idea would be the creation of special health courts with judges trained in medical issues who could help wade through evidence that is often highly technical in nature.
The 2004 report made a host of other recommendations on how to rein in abusive lawsuits without impinging on the right of victims to obtain fair redress for medical mistakes. Unfortunately, Maryland’s Democratic leaders who control the General Assembly adopted only a few of those recommendations. In the year since, the problem has gotten worse and precious time was lost. Legislators should waste no time adopting the rest of those 2004 recommendations, as well as those of the latest report from the hospital groups.
Maryland’s growing doctor shortage is not solely caused by problems related to jackpot justice. Maryland’s health system is one of the most heavily regulated in the country, including a price-control system that also helps drive doctors away in droves and reduces services available to patients. Reducing regulation and enacting legal reforms are the essential first steps to assuring that Marylanders will be able to see a doctor when they need one.
The hospital group also warned that the state’s emergency rooms will be particularly hard pressed by an “escalating crisis” in large part because too few specialists will be available. The report also noted that in Southern Maryland, there are now half as many general surgery physicians and residents as are needed to serve a growing population. Overall, Marylanders have 16 percent fewer doctors than the national average, according to the report, and the doctor shortage is only going to get worse if officials don’t act now.
