with aggressive media outreach and misleading research. Each session, bills are introduced that would lift the caps on noneconomic damages and protections for emergency services.
The 2011 session also saw an effort to dramatically change the Texas Advance Directives Act. That 1997 law protects patients from discomfort, pain, and suffering due to excessive medical intervention in the dying process. In 2011, opponents proposed bills that would have set a dangerous precedent for the legislature to mandate physician services and treatments that could be medically inappropriate, outside the standard of care, or unethical. Because medicine is both an art and a science and no one person can dictate the final stages of disease, physicians need safe harbors for treating our sickest patients, especially in their final days.
Ensure a fair and strong Texas Medical Board
TMA believes that the Texas Medical Board (TMB), not a civil courtroom, is the appropriate venue
for handling most complaints against physicians. As a key part of the 2003 medical liability reforms, lawmakers significantly strengthened the powers of TMB. With major support from TMA, the legisla- ture enhanced the board’s enforcement capabilities and imposed a surcharge on physicians’ licenses to pay for staffing and infrastructure improvements. It also directed TMB to focus on quality-of-care and impairment issues. A strong and fair medical board is critical to keeping the reforms intact.
In 2011, TMA fought off efforts to strip the medical board of much of its ability to protect patients from truly bad doctors. Instead, Texas enacted measures to improve the function of TMB, make its processes more transparent, and ensure fairness to physicians and their patients.
Oppose federal preemption of state civil justice reforms
For decades, even before Texas passed our landmark medical liability reforms in 2003, medicine has pushed the U.S. Congress to enact
Newly Licensed Texas Physicians (1999-2011) 4,000 3,000
Liability Reform
2,000
1,000 1999
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Texas Medical Board, September 2012 December 2012 TEXAS MEDICINE 61
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