“Without tort reform, many physicians — especially specialists — would be shut out of work and would avoid or flee Texas. The patients are our No. 1 priority, and they’d ultimately suffer from lack of access to care.”
G
erald Ray Callas, MD, began his career as a Beau- mont anesthesiologist at an ideal time in the history of medicine. It was 2003, the year the Texas Legis- lature passed the Medical Malpractice and Tort Re- form Act. Just months after the victory of House Bill 4, voters approved Proposition 12, an amendment to the Texas Constitution that authorizes the legisla-
ture to cap noneconomic damages in health care liability cases. Texas’ $750,000 total cap includes a $250,000 limit on physician exposure for noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering. The tort reform act doesn’t restrict economic damages.
In 2003, Dr. Callas’ group had about 15 physicians. Today, it boasts 28 doctors and 11 certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), due in large part, he says, to tort reform. “Without tort reform, we wouldn’t have been able to recruit all the specialists we have, and providing medical liability in- surance to CRNAs would have been cost-prohibitive,” said Dr. Callas, chair of the TMA Council on Constitution and Bylaws and a graduate of the TMA Leadership College.
He stresses that since Texas en- acted comprehensive medical liability reform eight years ago, patients in un- derserved areas have access to state- of-the art, quality medical care. “Tort reform is the reason Jefferson County now has 26 different medical specialties available to patients. They don’t have to drive to Houston for care,” he said.
During the epidemic of lawsuit abuse that preceded the 2003 law, Jefferson County was considered a “lawsuit war zone.” The American Tort Reform Association regularly included the county in its list of “judicial hell- holes.”
Although tort reform has drawn ad- ditional physicians to Texas and had other positive effects on the state’s health care system, the favorable li- ability landscape is in danger from forces seeking to overturn the land- mark 2003 reforms. Legal challenges
are coming in federal and state courts. The Texas Medical Association, the Texas Alliance for Pa- tient Access (TAPA), and other organizations are coordinating efforts and filing legal briefs to support tort reform’s provisions and protections. David Teuscher, MD, a Beaumont orthopedic surgeon and member of the TMA Board of Trustees, encourages physicians to remain vigilant in their efforts to protect the noneconomic damage cap and other provisions won through tort reform. “It was a four-decade battle to achieve tort reform. The next generation is going to have to defend this as hard as we had to fight to win it. We can’t rest on our laurels. We have to remain engaged in the political process and continue to tell the story of how tort reform is good for our patients,” he said. He adds tort reform contributed to Texas’ stable economy
and to the robust liability climate that allows professionals to flourish without having to combat excessive, frivolous lawsuits. Dr. Teuscher warns that if trial lawyers are able to overturn
the provisions of tort reform, Texas’ professional liability prac- tice landscape would return to the pre-tort reform era. In the years leading up to 2003, skyrocketing li- ability insurance premiums caused some physicians to restrict their medical prac- tices, hindering patients’ access to care. “We’d see physicians limiting their prac-
C. Bruce Malone, MD
Susan Rudd Bailey, MD
14 TEXAS MEDICINE September 2011 David Teuscher, MD
Rep. Michael C. Burgess, MD
tices, retiring early, or leaving the state. We’d also have a severe lack of high-risk specialists. None of this would be good for patients’ access to care,” he said. Dr. Callas says he’d be hesitant to prac- tice medicine in Texas absent tort reform. “Without tort reform, many physicians
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