QUESTION 3: MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

Thursday, Oct. 14, 2004 | 12:57 p.m.

A two-year battle between the state's doctors and lawyers now moves to the ballot.

Question 3, also known as the "Keep Our Doctors in Nevada" question, would change the laws to limit judgments against physicians with a goal of stabilizing medical malpractice insurance costs for doctors.

Doctors cite increasing insurance rates that have caused some to leave the state.

A coalition of doctors in 2002 sponsored an initiative petition drive to change the medical-malpractice laws. It was submitted to the 2003 Legislature, which did not pass the petition. So now it goes on the ballot.

It would limit the fees that attorneys who represent injured patients could collect in any malpractice judgment or settlement. A lawyer would receive 40 percent of the first $50,000 recovered; 33 1/3 percent of the next $50,000; 25 percent of the next $500,000 and 15 percent of the amount that exceeds $600,000.

Larry Matheis, executive director of the Nevada Medical Association, said the 2002 special legislative session took some steps to fix the problem, but it wasn't enough.

The Legislature limited to $350,000 the award that an injured patient could receive for pain and suffering, but allowed a higher judgment if there was gross negligence or exceptional circumstances.

Matheis noted that there are fewer insurance companies providing malpractice policies than before the legislation and the cost of premiums continues to rise.

Question 3 keeps the limit at $350,000 but eliminates the exceptions where higher judgments are possible.

N. Patrick Flanagan, a Reno lawyer, says the title on the ballot question of "Keep Our Doctors in Nevada" is misleading. More physicians come into the state every year, outnumbering those who leave because of the malpractice problem, he said.

"Hundreds of doctors are being licensed every year and most of them are going to Clark County," said Flanagan, a former president of the Nevada Bar Association.

Matheis says for 20 years prior to 2003, the state gained an average 137 doctors a year. In 2002 it dropped to a net increase of 23, and last year there was a net rise of only 70. That doesn't keep up with population growth, he said.

The state Board of Medical Examiners says it has licensed more than 150 new doctors this year and only 41 physicians have left the state, according to its records.

Trial lawyers say the initiative limits the legal rights of an injured party, and it does nothing to solve the problem of high insurance rates. Insurance law reform is the only way to control the cost of insurance to doctors and patients, they say.

The ballot measure would no longer allow Medicaid, private insurance or workers compensation insurance companies to recover expenses paid on behalf of a victim of medical malpractice.

Under present law, if one party cannot pay its share of a medical malpractice judgment, the others must pick up the full tab. The ballot question would hold the doctor and the other negligent parties responsible for paying to just their share.