When tort reformers talk about numbers and caps on compensation, what they really are talking about is the value of a human life.
All agreee that life is precious, but placing a dollar value is difficult. Placing a cap is cruel.
This story puts a face to the "real" consequences of tort reform. When studies show that more people die from medical mistakes each year than from car accidents and the medical profession and insurance industry bemoan the high cost of lawsuits and premiums, you would have thought that the business side of the house would have encouraged changes in procedures and attitudes to make fewer and fewer mistakes.
But it has not.
The focus seems to be to treat the symptoms and not the problem. Capping damages, compelling arbitration, and denying claims and jury trials seems to be where the business, medical and insurance money is going. Cursing the lawyers from afar rather than the mistakes at home does not cure the ill but covers up the symptoms and asks society to pay for their mistakes.
These cries of escalating costs ring hollow when you encounter soaring insurance profits and their executive's salaries.
However, back to California - to put a cap on the price of that life, and then keep it at 1975 levels puts a real face on tort reform as it attempts to freeze already inadequate numbers to an earlier era.
Here is a story on the devastating impact of a little known law in California with big consequences.
In this story, it was undisputed that the child died from medical negligence. It was also undisputed that a little known law from 1975 in California capped the damages at $250,000.
What is socially irresponsible is that this inadequate cap has remained unchanged for over 30 years. Some economists would now place that paltry 1975 sum in today's dollars at $1,000,000.
Here's an extract of the story (with a video too):
Medical Malpractice: Putting A Price On Life
In a shocking report, more people die from medical mistakes each year than from highway accidents, breast cancer or AIDS. And in California, a little known law puts a price tag on what the state says your life is worth. Now, a Simi Valley family blames a local hospital's errors for robbing their daughter of her young and innocent life.
The Gonzalezes prayed for a miracle, but doctors pronounced their precious girl brain dead...
"Clearly it says on her birth certificate she died from their mistake... I blame the whole hospital," Jodi said.
To ensure the hospital is held accountable and that this deadly mistake would never happen again, Laney's parents set out to sue. But they were shocked to find the state of California already put a price tag of $250,000 on their little girl's life.
"Basically you are telling me my beautiful 16-month-old daughter, who had her whole life ahead of her, who never danced with her daddy… Is worth $250,000. That is all her life is worth?" Jodi said.
There is a little known law in California called MICRA -- The Medical Injury Compensation Act.
"MICRA is a four letter word in disguise I think," said attorney Gerald Agnew.
Trial attorneys insist this law that was put on the books back in 1975 is insurance companies and doctors dirty little secret.
"I have to believe if the general public knew about MICRA, it wouldn't exist," said attorney and doctor Russell Kussman M.D.
The malpractice cap even overrides the decision of a jury.
"A jury can come back with a verdict, a fair and reasonable compensation… and the judge will reduce that to $250,000," Agnew said.
No amount of money will ever bring Laney back, but this family is dedicated in keeping her spirit alive.
"There's got to be a change to it," Daniel said.
"She's worth nothing... Nothing," Jodi said.
Economists surmise that cap of $250,000 would be worth about a $1 million today, yet the law remains unchanged.
In a statement from UCLA, they say the medical center is saddened by Delaney's death and are committed to patient safety and quality of care continues to be the hospitals number one priority.
Tort reform is nothing more than wealth redistribution - a conversion of pain from the hides of the injured to money which goes the pockets of the doctors and officers of insurance companies.
Posted by: Todd K. Bolus | Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 11:01 AM