Nevada’s Malpractice Limits May Be Challenged

Nevada lawmakers’ solution to the state’s medical malpractice insurance crisis may be challenged on constitutional grounds, trial lawyers said Thursday.

The lawmakers ended a special session just after 4 a.m. Thursday by imposing a $350,000 cap on lawsuit awards. The session had been ordered by Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn to try to end a health-care crisis caused by soaring malpractice insurance premiums.

“Any time you take away someone’s right to a jury trial on substantive issues, you run the risk of a constitutional challenge,” said Jerry Gillock of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Assn.

“I don’t like to forecast doom for the bill. But there are a number of states where caps have been struck down.”

Besides the $350,000 cap on pain-and-suffering awards in medical malpractice cases, the new law also has a $50,000 liability cap on all trauma centers and emergency rooms in the state.

Gillock said the $50,000 cap’s initial purpose was to protect government-run medical facilities, but the provision was expanded to any trauma center or emergency room.

“It’s a sovereign immunity issue, not a cap issue,” he said. “So to do this for the multibillion-dollar corporations that run our private hospitals is a real problem.”

Bill Bradley of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Assn. also criticized the new law, saying special interests got “the upper hand at the expense of society in general.”

“It’s an unfortunate day when the right to a jury trial is sacrificed for the greed and profits of an insurance industry that couldn’t explain how these limitations will improve the health-care system,” he said.

The law change was praised by Guinn, who said it will help keep doctors in the state because they can look forward to lower rates in a few years.

“I believe what the doctors were looking for, what they really wanted, was the ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” the governor added.

Dr. Ikram Khan, a Las Vegas general surgeon who helped lead the cap effort, called the new law “a major, significant accomplishment” that would help lower premiums and stabilize the insurance market.

Insurance industry lobbyist Jim Wadhams said insurers will want to see whether the plan can survive court challenges. But, he added, “it’s a positive change. It will just take time.”

Nevada is one of a dozen states troubled by rising premiums, tied to awards by state juries in malpractice cases, according to the American Medical Assn.

Trial lawyers countered that juries rule in favor of doctors in two-thirds of all malpractice lawsuits, and the key is to limit mistakes by doctors and hospitals rather than limit jury awards.