“Tort reform has done wonders for the state by attracting more physicians to practice here, improving access to care, and making it economically possible for physicians to continue caring for patients.”
for medical liability insurance. When he left active practice in 2010 to assume the post of medical director of St. David’s South Austin Medical Center, he was paying about $25,000 a year. “Tort reform made it possible for me to continue practic- ing another seven years. When doctors give up obstetrics pre- maturely, it creates a shortage of physicians who can care for pregnant women. Absent liability protections, physicians are also less willing to care for high-risk, uninsured patients,” Dr. Gros said. Mr. Opelt says the ranks of high-risk specialists has grown twice as fast as the state’s population since 2003. Specifically, the number of rural obstetricians increased nearly three times faster than the state’s rural population. Since the passage of tort reform, 46 counties, of which 39 are rural, added their first emergency physician. Dr. Justin Hensley says Texas’ tort laws immensely helped
emergency physicians and their patients. “Since I teach residents, I feel that this will help decrease the cost of medicine over time, as doctors no longer have to over-test. This also helps decrease wait times in the emergency department, as we no longer have to keep beds occupied by patients waiting for the results of unnecessary testing,” he said. Dr. Weltge agrees that Texas’ tort laws are particularly ben- eficial to emergency physicians. “Texas’ tort system provides legitimate protections for emer- gency physicians and on-call physicians who are providing fed- erally mandated care and who are, in reality, responding to the sickest and most critically injured patients, often … without a complete medical history,” he said.
Many specialties and subspecialties have benefitted from
tort reform in Texas. David Teuscher, MD, a Beaumont ortho- pedic surgeon and former member of the TMA Board of Trust- ees, says tort reform has made a big difference in his practice’s ability to recruit.
24 TEXAS MEDICINE September 2013
“My group finally was successful in recruiting a fellowship- trained foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon after a long drought. That was impossible before HB 4 and Proposition 12,” he said.
Preserve Texas’ tort laws While Texas achieved a stout reform package that has proved lasting, physicians must continue to thwart legal battles waged by the trial lawyers. Dr. Gros was a member of TMA’s Council on Legislation in 2003 and served as chair beginning in 2009. He says he spent most of his time on the council “either implementing or protecting tort reform,” calling it “a subject near and dear to my heart.” He hopes Texas’ tort laws will continue to prevail in the face of opposition. “Preserving tort reform is crucial to improving quality of health care and patient access, while increasing the physician workforce and the number of insurers in Texas. If tort reform is diluted, in a worst-case scenario, we could return to the situ- ation we had before 2003,” he said. Dr. Weltge urges physicians to remain vigilant in promoting
tort reform’s benefits and defending its provisions. “The health care system in Texas has improved in Texas due
in large part to the state’s tort laws. Physicians must continue to sing praises of our tort laws to their patients and lawmak- ers,” he said.
Physicians need to be plugged in politically to ensure tort
reform endures, Dr. Teuscher warns. “In order to preserve the improved access to care that our
Texas patients now enjoy, we must continue to support and elect judges, senators, representatives, and governors who un- derstand the importance of a stable medical liability climate,” he said.
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