Among the anecdotal-based criticisms of the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) is that California's $250,000 cap on non-economic damages in medical professional liability cases acts as some kind of bar to the justice system. That's not enough money to attract a lawyer, the argument goes.
There's just one problem: The claim does not stand up to actual scrutiny.
According to researchers led by former California Legislative Analyst William Hamm, "empirical evidence provides no support for the hypothesis that MICRA (including the $250,000 cap) has reduced access to the court system." That conclusion, contained in a comprehensive study of MICRA's effects on the health care delivery system in California, finds support in three findings:
- Hamm and his researchers looked at estimated medical liability lawsuit filings on a per capita basis in California from 1968-2007. The team found that per-capita filings were generally higher in the period beginning in 1986 (when MICRA had finally cleared its main legal challenges) than in late 1960s to early 1970s -- before MICRA.
- The study looked at a general decline in per-capita medical liability lawsuit filings since 1993. Significantly, Hamm's team found that the incidence of non-medical liability personal injury lawsuits - which are not affected by MICRA -- decreased at a faster rate than the incidence of medical malpractice suits.
- Hamm and his team looked at claims data provided by a medical professional liability company, which showed that in the period before the California Supreme Court's action upholding MICRA, medical malpractice claims frequency was 23.4%. But in the 20 years after MICRA was affirmed, Hamm found, the rate decreased only slightly, to 22.9%. "This data supports our finding that MICRA has not had a significant impact on the rate at which medical liability lawsuits are filed," Hamm stated.
At trial, judges warn juries that what the lawyers say in their arguments is not actual evidence. Seems the same is true when the personal injury attorneys talk about MICRA.
***
Gordon Ownby is general counsel of the Cooperative of American Physicians, Inc., www.cap-mpt.com, and can be reached at gownby@cap-mpt.com.