Lowers Premiums, Increases Number of Doctors,” page 25.) “It’s scary to think back to what it was like before September 2003. Texas was in the midst of a medical malpractice insur- ance crisis. Many medical liability insurance companies left the state, and some physicians could no longer get insurance coverage. Access to care was in dire straits,” he said. He adds that the situation was so precarious that any pre- dictable, but less-than-optimal, medical outcome could be the basis for filing a lawsuit. “On average, it was taking three to five years to resolve med-


ical liability suits. Many times, the cases against physicians were dropped or settled. But the experience was emotionally draining and unsettling,” Dr. Weltge said. “The sad truth is that all Texas doctors — even those who’ve never had to pay a cent in damages, even those who’ve never been sued — are experiencing shocking liability insurance rate hikes,” then-TMA President Fred Merian, MD, wrote in a Feb- ruary 2003 column in The Dallas Morning News. “More than 85 percent of all claims are dismissed with no damages being paid, but those that remain often produce enormous awards.” Fast forward a decade. A new national study of all 2012 health care liability suit judgments and settlements by Die-


derich Healthcare reports Texas is at the absolute bottom in payments per capita. Diederich is a medical liability insurance company headquartered in Illinois. (See “Eight Medical Liabil- ity Myths,” pages 12–17.)


Diederich’s 2013 Medical Malpractice Payout Analysis


(www.texmed.org/Diederich) shows that in 2012, Texans spent only $3.03 per person in liability suit payouts. In con- trast, New York was at the top of the list, paying out $38.99 per person in 2012. “I think this is a direct result of our 2003 liability reforms and just one more piece of evidence that our reforms are work- ing and must be protected,” Mr. Opelt said. Albert Gros, MD, was chief of obstetrics and gynecology and a member of the board of directors at St. David’s South Austin Medical Center before tort reform. He says astronomically high medical liability insurance premiums inflicted havoc on his specialty at the time. “We lost about one-third of our obstetricians leading up to 2003. The four insurance carriers operating in the state either wouldn’t underwrite our OBs or the liability premiums made it economically impossible for the physicians to survive,” he said. Before 2003, Dr. Gros says he paid about $50,000 annually


Tort reform increases number of newly-licensed physicians in Texas


4,000 3,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 1,500 1,000 500 0


2002


reform


Tort


2003


2004


2005


2006


2007


2008


2009


2010 Source: Texas Medical Board; Medical Education Department, Texas Medical Association. September 2013 TEXAS MEDICINE 23


2011


2012


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