Session may not resolve trauma crisis

Erin Neff

Wednesday, July 10, 2002 | 11:01 a.m.

Political leaders are trying everything to get surgeons to return to work at the shuttered University Medical Center trauma unit.

And while a special session of the Nevada Legislature will begin the week of July 29, lawmakers know there is little they can do -- beyond assurances of insurance coverage and capped lawsuits -- to bring the orthopedic surgeons back.

"We're doing everything we can," Clark County Commissioner and UMC Board Chairwoman Erin Kenny said. "It's very premature to say anything is solved, but we've been meeting with the doctors."

Kenny and Gov. Kenny Guinn met Sunday with a group of the doctors to explain in greater detail how they could be covered under the governmental $50,000 cap on lawsuits.

Doctors previously rejected such a governmental-offered cap because, they said, it had not been challenged in court, and thus, they did not know if it would allow them to be covered.

The state Attorney General's Office was asked to show the doctors proof that the $50,000 limit against malpractice lawsuits would stand.

Thomas M. Patton, first assistant attorney general, said doctors who signed a proposed employment agreement with the hospital would be defended by attorneys for the hospital and any judgment would be paid by the hospital.

The legal opinion could lead to an agreement with surgeons to return to the trauma center for the next 45 days, during which time they would fall under the hospital's $50,000 cap.

"I believe they're looking at the protection and determining whether they have the facts they now need to return to work," Guinn said.

UMC's level one trauma center closed July 3 after surgeons said they couldn't work given exposure to malpractice lawsuits that could personally bankrupt them.

Guinn had previously asked doctors, lawyers and insurance company representatives to negotiate on reforms that would keep doctors from leaving the state or high-risk jobs. Those meetings are continuing, and the group has until July 26 to come up with consensus.

"There are really only about four or five areas on the table and the two main groups have a lot of progress on them," Guinn said. "Obviously there's disagreement about caps and the number that should be placed on lawsuits, but hopefully they will work it out."

If the special interests can reach consensus, Guinn will ask the state's 63 lawmakers to approve the group's plan when he convenes the Legislature on July 29.

If there is no agreement, Guinn said he is prepared to offer his own plan -- one probably similar to California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act -- to start discussions in the Legislature.

"I'll try to hook them together with something if they are at least close," Guinn said.

But Guinn admits the negotiations about caps could easily get bogged down in finger pointing and stall any hope of a quick session.

"I can put in my resolution calling the special session exactly how long it will be," Guinn said. "And if they get there and there's no sign of consensus after a few days, I can and will absolutely call an end to the session with another resolution."

Guinn said he is hopeful the trauma center will be able to open later this week, and that a special session will result in the kind of law changes that keep doctors in Nevada and on the job.

Mark Brown, president of Brown & Partners, a public relations firm handling the doctors' publicity, said this morning individual physicians are being briefed on the negotiations.

"We need to make sure we have enough doctors to cover the full schedule, if and when the trauma center reopens," Brown said.

Once enough doctors back the proposed agreement, the trauma center could open within 24 hours, Brown said.

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