Candidate: Tort reform needed to solve malpractice crisis

Thursday, June 20, 2002 | 9:07 a.m.

Republican congressional candidate Jon Porter told a group of doctors and their supporters Wednesday night to stop pointing fingers at attorneys over the medical malpractice insurance issue and urged all sides to start shouldering the responsibility for resolving the mess.

Medical malpractice "is the No. 1 crisis facing Nevada today," said Porter, considered the frontrunner Republican for the newly created Congressional District 3.

"There is no quick fix. Tort reform is only one piece of a huge puzzle," Porter said. Doctors have pushed for 25 years to get caps on jury awards and blame the current crisis on the lack of tort reform. "The finger-pointing has to stop," he said.

Porter's 20-minute speech came outside an OB/GYN clinic to a crowd of about 200, including fellow Republican candidates and pregnant women hoping to find a doctor at the gathering.

The candidates reception included no Democrats, who have blocked numerous attempts to pass tort reform in the State Legislature.

"I came down here tonight to try to find a doctor because my mother and I have been through the whole phone book with no luck," said 20-year-old Sarah Harper, who is 17 weeks pregnant and had to go to California for her initial OB/GYN visit. She received a promise from Porter to help her find one.

The longtime state senator criticized all groups -- doctors, lawyers, insurers and politicians -- for the dilemma that has resulted in doctors leaving Southern Nevada, saying they cannot find affordable malpractice insurance.

Porter criticized politicians for "not stepping up to the plate" when St. Paul Insurance Co., held a virtual monopoly on malpractice insurance in the state, representing 60-plus percent of Nevada's 5,000 doctors. St. Paul pulled out in December, saying its losses were too great.

"It's not about selling the most (insurance), it's about sharing the risk that lowers premiums," he said.

Porter called for tort reforms that would reduce judgments to a "scale basis" and appoint a judge to specifically hear malpractice cases. On a federal level Porter called for law changes to allow doctors to pool their resources and create large enough groups that could purchase insurance at lower premiums.