Regarding the Feb. 17 article “Panel gives Rx for medical crisis”: California, in the wake of a medical malpractice insurance crisis in 1975 enacted the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA). Then the medical malpractice premiums in California moderated because they got rid of the “lottery system” that operates in Florida and some other states in which a plaintiff can get a multimillion-dollar award from a sympathetic jury. In California, trial lawyers no longer file frivolous lawsuits and go on a fishing expedition with a big net.
The California law has four components: It caps noneconomic damages at $250,000; limits legal contingency fees along a sliding scale; allows offsets against a settlement if a plaintiff has other forms of recovery such as health insurance; and allows for future damages to be paid over time, instead of all at once.
Now doctors in California can practice medicine without the fear of frivolous lawsuits. And while Florida is losing many good doctors, California is attracting some of the nation’s best doctors.
Florida should use the California model for its malpractice reform.
Dev Chacko, M.D.
Orlando
