Tennessee is in a healthcare crisis - Tennessee has joined 20 other states in being declared a crisis state with regard to medical liability reform; the designation by the American Medical Association was announced on February 14. Tennessee doctors are closing their practices, retiring, or considering those choices.  Many are refusing to perform high-risk procedures; many more are practicing "defensive" medicine -- ordering costly tests and procedures -- to protect themselves from a lawsuit. This problem is already impacting the health of Tennesseans and will only worsen unless needed reforms are enacted.

Access to care is already a problem - Many Tennessee doctors are either leaving their medical field, refusing to perform high-risk procedures (i.e., delivering babies, working in emergency rooms or performing certain surgical procedures) or leaving the state for a location that has medical malpractice laws. This is creating an access-to-care issue, particularly for high-risk patients and those who live in rural communities.

Patients pay more due to litigation fears - The cost of defensive medicine is estimated at $70-$120 billion nationally and at $2 billion in Tennessee, much of this due to providers’ fears of unwarranted litigation. Nearly 80% of doctors report ordering additional tests and referring more patients for second opinions, given the existing legal climate.

It’s not just the “bad doctors” who are being sued - Tennessee physicians are a target of a legal system seeking to cash in on the lawsuit lottery. Of those who have practiced in the state for the past 10 years, 100% of cardiac surgeons, 92% of orthopedists and 70% of all doctors have faced legal action.

Most lawsuits waste time and money - Overall, nearly 88% of medical liability claims closed in 2004 resulted in no payment to the plaintiff. Those 1,534 suits resulted in defense costs totaling $16,514,490. In just one of the cases, defense costs amounted to more than a half-million dollars.

Injured patients will still have their “day in court” - MLR legislation would not block access to the court system or limit a patient’s right to receive legitimate awards for actual economic damages (loss of wages, medical bills) in cases of true malpractice.

Tennessee has a litigation problem - The number of lawsuits in Tennessee alone is equivalent to all of the lawsuits filed in Canada.

Reforms do help - According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), total premiums for physicians’ liability insurance across the country have increased 920% between 1976-2003, while premiums in California, which enacted comprehensive reform in 1975, have increased only 282%.

Insurance costs make doctors rethink their careers - Average malpractice insurance premiums for Tennessee doctors have increased 90% since 1999, at an average of 13% per year. Without reforms, 69% of Tennessee doctors report they are contemplating early retirement or changing careers.

Reforms will mean award money goes to the patient, not the lawyer - Even when an injured patient receives a large award, a substantial percentage of the award – as much as 77% – never reaches the patient; it is eaten up by attorney’s fees, court costs, expert witness costs and other expenses.

Tennesseans support award limits - Based upon research polling in the summer of 2004, 56% of Tennessee residents believe jury awards have grown too large and that some limits should be set; nearly 75% of all Tennesseans support limits on awards in malpractice cases if faced with losing access to services.

Jury awards are soaring - Across the nation, the median jury award for medical malpractice in the U.S. doubled from 1997-2000 to an average of $1 million. Since 1991, the number of $1 million awards has increased 400%.