Physicians rally on Capitol Hill for tort reform

Washington -- Busloads of white-coated physicians, medical students and other health professionals took to the U.S. Capitol's West Lawn last month to urge Congress to approve medical liability damage caps.

While attendees occasionally chanted slogans, doctors and lawmakers gave addresses calling for action on a medical liability reform bill that has passed the House several times in recent years. Audience members held up signs saying "Save our doctors," "Stop jackpot justice" and "Cure medicine." Some participants toted placards calling for the establishment of a medical court that would hear alleged malpractice cases outside of the traditional tort system.

The Coalition for Accessible Physicians, a grassroots organization based in New Jersey, sponsored the rally and helped transport doctors from nine Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Chartered buses carrying coalition members from Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia met outside of Washington and drove into the district en masse.

American Medical Association Immediate Past President Donald J. Palmisano, MD, urged participants to maintain a unified front. The AMA is fighting for legislation that includes a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages in suits against doctors.

"We have to lift our many voices in a single refrain for reform, because different messages are fodder for inaction," Dr. Palmisano said. "They give lawmakers an excuse not to pass meaningful reform."

Lawmakers sympathetic to the group's cause, including Sen. Rick Santorum (R, Pa.), blamed Senate Democrats for the upper chamber's inaction.

"The problem is in the Senate, where lawsuit abuse does not get its fair day in court," he said.

Santorum suggested that those in the medical community might need to use their clout to elect new senators in 2006 who are more sympathetic to doctors' plight. Liability reform sponsors currently lack the 60 votes needed to shut off debate in the upper chamber and move to final passage of their legislation.

Other lawmakers said additional demonstrations could convince some lawmakers to drop their opposition to damage caps. Rep. Christopher Cox (R, Calif.) said more doctors need to confound the expectations of their opponents on the issue by enduring the hassles of leaving practices behind and coming to Washington to lobby while lawmakers are in session.

"They know you can't fight back because you're too busy," Cox said.

The event showed how difficult it is for doctors to undertake such activities. Despite early expectations from the coalition that several thousand participants would show up for the rally, the final size of the crowd appeared to number in the hundreds.

Several doctors said their show of unity was well worth the sacrifices that they had to make in traveling to Washington. Marie Kuffner, MD, an anesthesiologist from Los Angeles, said she had made the trip to help relate how well medical liability caps are working in California.

"We have already lived through 30 years of tort reform," she said.

Some of the physicians who addressed the gathering hinted at more aggressive approaches to getting policy-makers' attention. Greg Saracco, MD, a general surgeon from Wheeling, W.Va., noted that the governor in his state came to the negotiating table within hours when he and his fellow trauma surgeons launched a plan to take leaves of absence on the same day in protest of high medical liability insurance rates. He hinted that this tactic on a broader scale might prove useful if the Senate is unable to approve a reform package.

"We know what to do if they don't pass it," Dr. Saracco said.