Kaine urging reform of malpractice litigation

Kaine outlines tort-reform initiative

By CHELYEN DAVIS

Date published: 1/11/2005

Lieutenant governor presents a list of legislative proposals

RICHMOND--Lt. Gov. Tim Kaine will push for tort reform to dissuade attorneys from filing frivolous malpractice lawsuits.

Kaine, announcing his legislative agenda for the 2005 General Assembly session yesterday, said he will back a bill to require the plaintiff in a malpractice suit to get an expert certification that there's a real chance the doctor did something wrong.

That certification--which could come from anyone certified to give expert testimony--would be based on medical records, and would have to be given before the plaintiff could file a lawsuit.

The high cost of malpractice insurance premiums has driven some doctors, particularly obstetricians, out of practice. Last year Rappahannock General Hospital in Kilmarnock shut its obstetrical unit because the two doctors who worked there closed their practice, unable to afford malpractice insurance.

Obstetricians in other areas of the state have faced similar situations. Malpractice premium costs are not the only culprit. Too-low Medicaid reimbursement rates and other issues also have an affect.

Kaine said he hopes his bill would end "those sort of omnibus malpractice claims where they say everyone is guilty of malpractice and try to sort it out later."

Kaine also plans to support bills to help small businesses pay for employee health insurance, by offering tax credits of $500 per employee for businesses with 50 or fewer employees, and by having the state create purchasing pools for small businesses to buy insurance together.

He said he proposes tying college tuition increases to the inflation rate. Colleges would be able to override that cap only by permission of the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia, or if the General Assembly does not fund the schools up to the level prescribed in state law.

Kaine supports a constitutional amendment to "lock up" the Transportation Trust Fund and ensure that money cannot be taken out for other purposes, as lawmakers have done.

"We cannot have a meaningful conversation about transportation needs until we can be sure of what the state already has and be equally certain that it won't be used for anything but transportation," Kaine said.

There are similar proposals in the House of Delegates, and one failed in a Senate committee last year.

"I think this is the year to finally do this," Kaine said.

Follow us on

Date published: 1/11/2005