Utah Legislature: House passes measure to limit malpractice awards

SALT LAKE CITY — A bill intending to protect medical care providers from frivolous malpractice lawsuits but not interfere with a patient's right to sue was approved 67-6 in the House on Thursday.

Opponents of SB145 said the bill is unnecessary because Utah already has the highest number of and the most restrictive types of malpractice laws in the country.

"There is simply no need for this bill," said Rep. Brad King, D-Salt Lake, adding that only one time in the past 10 years has a jury award had to be reduced because it was above the current $450,000 state limit.

Reforming malpractice statutes goes hand-in-hand with the state's health care reform plans, said Rep. Brad Last, R-Ogden. He urged lawmakers to approve the measure. He also admonished them not to forget that the bill reflects a toughly negotiated consensus of doctors, hospitals and trial attorneys.

King said the state has gone out of its way to shield individual physicians and hospitals, but HB145, which was approved 25-0 in the Senate on Wednesday, cuts the award limit in half and then further cuts consumers' ability to seek restitution when they are seriously harmed.

If the state were trying to adopt a bill to keep people from falling off a cliff, he said, the measure amounts to having ambulances waiting at the bottom for those who fall instead of building a fence at the top.

"This isn't a fence, and it's fewer ambulances," he said. "What are we doing to make sure that your son or my daughter aren't going to be victims of medical malpractice? Why not ask how we can increase patient safety, which truly furthers health care reform efforts, rather than limit (consumers') recourse when something goes wrong?"

Rep. Johnny Anderson, R-Taylorsville, said health care consumers and all citizens are entitled to a jury trial, "but we are not to use the courts as a lottery system."

Other proponents said prior to the vote that the bill can't effectively solve big-picture conundrums of consumer access to the legal system, but the one thing it can do is close the tap of big settlements and jury awards that system reformers from here to Washington, D.C., say is a big reason health care costs are out of control.

e-mail: jthalman@desnews.com