Health Coalition on Liability and Access

HCLA is a national advocacy coalition united in our strong belief that federal health liability laws are needed to bring greater fairness, timeliness and cost-effectiveness to our system of civil justice. We also believe legal reform is the best way to protect medical progress and to ensure that affordable health care is accessible to all Americans.

WHO ARE WE?

The HCLA is composed of organizations and individuals representing physicians, hospitals, health care insurers, business, producers of medicines and health care consumers.

OUR GOALS

We put patient safety and injury prevention first. The HCLA believes that a reformed system would do a better job of protecting patients by promoting access and innovation. It would also discourage defensive medicine that costs billions, and at times can cause needless suffering. The HCLA supports basic medical liability reforms nationwide, that have been proven to be effective in some states across the country. These reforms include:

Placing a $250,000 ceiling on non-economic damages. A cap on non-economic damages does not keep people from recovering any amount necessary to pay for medical expenses, lost wages, rehabilitation costs, or any other economic loss suffered as the result of a health care injury. It limits only those damages awarded for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment, and other intangible items. Limits on non-economic damages are the single most effective reform in containing medical liability insurance costs, according to a report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA). California had the country’s highest liability premiums before enacting a $250,000 ceiling on non-economic damages; its premiums now are 1/3 to 1/2 those in states without such limits. At the same time, access to the legal system has not been limited. Based on California’s successful experience, HCLA supports a $250,000 limit.

Halting double recovery. This reform would permit defendants to introduce to a jury evidence of any reimbursement to the claimant by health or disability insurers or others for losses resulting from an injury, thus preventing a plaintiff from recovering more than one time for the same expense.

Holding each defendant responsible only for the portion of non-economic damages attributable to their own acts or omissions. Under the current rules (“joint and several liability”), a defendant responsible for as little as 1% of the total fault may be required to pay the entire award. HCLA agrees that defendants should remain jointly liable for all economic losses, such as medical bills and lost wages, but should be held liable only for their own portion of the non-economic and punitive damages.

Applying liability reform provisions to all potential defendants in claims arising from health-care related injuries. The manufacturers of medical products, providers of blood and tissue services or products, HMOs and other health care providers are all at risk of a lawsuit when a patient is injured. Addressing the liability problems in just one part of the health-care sector actually may stimulate litigation in other parts which are perceived to have “deeper pockets.” The existing system increases defensive medicine and deters medical technology manufacturers from developing new innovative, cost-effective products.

Limiting the amount of attorney contingency fees. HCLA supports setting limits for attorney contingency fees. The contingency fee is meant to enable those with less resources to obtain legal representation. However, the existing system is not serving this function well because it favors “big ticket” cases; consequently, most people with health care injury claims never get access to the civil justice system. Meanwhile, when they do, lawyers take large portions of claimants’ awards. Of every dollar available to pay malpractice claims, attorneys get as much as $.50, making this a very inefficient compensation mechanism.

Paying awards for future expenses or losses over time. Future expenses or losses over $50,000 should be paid periodically over time, while past and current expenses are paid in full lump-sum. Otherwise, claimants receive money, such as future lost wages, before they would have earned it. This reform also insures that money is there when needed.

Providing for a uniform statute of limitations. HCLA supports enacting a uniform statute of limitations. Standard rules should require that claims must be filed within one year from the date an injury is discovered, but should also provide an outside limit of three years from the date the injury occurred. Exceptions should allows extra time for claims for children under age six, who may not be able to communicate the existence of an injury, and for claims where a foreign body is left in a claimant’s body and not discovered for many years.

Encouraging alternative dispute resolution methods. Alternative dispute resolution systems can save billions of health care dollars. The states should be given maximum flexibility to select a dispute resolution system that works best for them.

Reforming punitive damages. Punitive damages should be awarded only if there is “clear and convincing” evidence that the injury meets the standard set by each jurisdiction. In those cases, damages should be limited to $250,000, or twice the compensatory damages (the total of economic plus non-economic losses), whichever is greater. Manufacturers or distributors of medical products should not be held liable for punitive damages if their product received federal government approval or met FDA’s “safe and effective” product requirements and there was no fraud in the approval process.

OUR PROGRAMS

* Work for patient safety.
* Educate the public and elected officials about the need for comprehensive, effective health care liability reform.
* Coordinate HCLA members’ lobbying on liability issues.
* Organize national and local support.
* Provide the media with information about medical liability reform.