The Washington Post reports that the GOP control of Washington and HHS Sectary Tom Price’s history of complaints “that frivolous lawsuits are driving up the cost of health care,” physicians and insurers believe the “odds of overhauling the nation’s medical malpractice laws have also greatly improved.” Lobbyists crafted a medical malpractice law overhaul that would impose “strict limits on damages for some plaintiffs and sharply lower fees for their attorneys.” States, even those whose supreme courts ruled caps on non-economic damages are unconstitutional, would have “to set caps, or submit to having the federal standard imposed on them.” The lobbyists “crowed” they were able to get the House to pass the bill “with minimal input from the public or even members of Congress.” Victims’ rights advocates “accused lawmakers of acting in secret to slam the courtroom door on people who have been grievously injured by doctors,” and the bill has stalled in the Senate.
From the news release of the American Association for Justice.
