Reform? Not So Much

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Supreme Court has overturned a key provision in a Republican-backed “tort reform” law that limited the amount of money people could win in medical malpractice lawsuits.

In a 4-3 decision today involving CoxHealth the high court said the 2005 law violated the right to a jury trial by capping non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases at $350,000. The limit had applied to lawsuits alleging health care providers were at fault for injuries or deaths.

The monetary limit had been a focal point of a law passed by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by then-Gov. Matt Blunt. They had hoped it would help reign in rising medical malpractice premiums for doctors and thus improve the availability of health care.

Because limiting accountability makes so much sense.  Then mistakes don't become worth avoiding, they become the cost of doing business.  Then you stop forgetting that it's people's deaths or loss that led to that cost.  If the hospital is found to be guilty of some sort of negligence then they should pay an appropriate amount suited to the level of negligence.  If that's something so awful (like cutting off the wrong leg... don't laugh, it's happened!) and preventable then the hospital should pay a fair amount.

Also, it's rein, not reign.  That's just the Springfield News-Leader keeping it real, folks.