While we’ve been focusing on the CA-10 congressional race, it’s not the only special election on Tuesday. It seems like it’s only been a few weeks since Sen. Curren Price moved from the Assembly, but tomorrow we just might get a replacement for him. The seat, based in Inglewood, is solidly Democratic, and it may look like we’ll be able to avoid the pro-forma second special election caused by a lack of a 50%+1 majority. Gardena Councilman Steve Bradford has pretty much wrapped up all angle. He’s got the money, the endorsements, and the Independent Expenditures (IEs).
Gardena Councilman Steve Bradford is in a commanding position heading into Tuesday’s election in the 51st Assembly District. Bradford has a near monopoly on major endorsements and a six-to-one fundraising advantage over his nearest opponent.
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Bradford has raised $294,000, and has benefited from another $58,000 in independent expenditures, mostly from a committee of doctors that is primarily concerned with maintaining a damages cap on medical malpractice suits. (Torrance Daily Breeze 8/31/09)
Now, I can’t say I know much about Bradford, other than what I’ve read in the past few months. He narrowly lost to Curren Price in the primary for the seat a few years ago, and is nothing if not dogged. Normally losing candidates don’t get a second chance, but he’s taken more than a few losses and is still sticking around. You have to give the man credit for perserverance.
That being said, the fact that he has been the beneficiary of nearly $60,000 in independent expenditures by a “tort deform” group is troubling. California already has one of the strictest tort reform laws in the nation. And while many will say, fine, that’s no big deal, consider how it actually causes our system to function.
The cap on non-economic damages is generally $250,000 in California for medical malpractice. That means everything but the actual costs, ie medical expenses, resulting from the injury caused by the doctor. That sounds like a fair bit of money. But when it comes down to it, pursuing these cases in court is expensive. And many quality lawyers won’t even take medical malpractice cases because it just too hard to make a decent living that way.
But consider the really perverse incentive of these caps: it is cheaper for a doctor to kill the patient than to have them in some sort of chronic condition. If a doctor kills a patient, say by giving him the wrong prescription, the family can only recover $250,000 in pain and suffering. Meanwhile, had the patient only been maimed and require life-long care, costing millions of dollars, the doctor, and his insurance company are on the hook for a big expense. In other words, if you mess up, make sure you finish the job.
Now, I’m not saying that doctors are out there killing their patients to avoid a big malpractice judgment, but you have to admit, that is one messed up incentive. The cap is far too low for medical malpractice law to actually allow serve its purpose, and so, on many occasions, doctors who make deadly mistakes simply avoid all liability. It is a tragedy of our legal and political system that this is allowed to occur.
I’m not saying that Steve Bradford will simply be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Medical Association, but the IEs cost the people of California. I’m sure he’s a good person like (most of) our other Legislators who just try to do what is right for the state. However, we can’t keep continuing to elect people by their fundraising abilities alone. It puts the diffuse interest of the majority of Californians at the whim of the special interest dollars. It is in fact, the best election system that special interest dollars can buy. We need clean money, and we need it now.
The claim:
The cap on non-economic damages is generally $250,000 in California for medical malpractice. That means everything but the actual costs, ie medical expenses, resulting from the injury caused by the doctor.
Isn’t the doctor liable for lost economic value also? That
is, if a doctor kills a lawyer making $300K/year, isn’t
there an award for $300K/year * number of years still left in career (so with 10 more years, it would be 3 million)?
I don’t know, but it seems to me that must be the case.
Incidentally, Consumer Reports indicates that only 8 percent
of medical malpractice is ever uncovered. In general, what
we need is not tort reform but health care reform. Computerized records would help a lot because all of the care
applied to an individual could be accessed and evaluated by
analysists. This would help catch mistakes and in planning future care. Think of what the production line did for manufacturing.
Lest we forget, the ridiculously low amount available for damages in such cases is a gift of former Gov. Jerry Brown. Hasn’t he already done enough damage?
there was evidence that many physicians–especially in high risk areas–were either leaving the state or going “bare” because of the rapidly escalating premiums. There is of course debate as to what extent, if any, large med mal verdicts played in those inflationary premium days but I suspect it played some role. Premiums plateaued and the stethoscope flight slowed to a trickle, but the caps effect has been overplayed by the medical industry. It certainly has resulted in miscarriages of justice.
The real crime is that the $250,000 cap has never been adjusted for inflation. If it had the number would be close to $400,000. Don’t forget there are limitations on fees and periodic payments in these cases.
As for Jerry Brown, yes he went with the CMA on this. And Gray Davis refused to adjust the cap for inflation. Most Republicans don’t even talk to trial lawyers in broad daylight. Haven’t heard word one from Gavin Newsom about whether he supports lifting or increasing the caps. Since he’s so far behind Brown in fundraising this might be a way
to tap into the trial bar’s pockets.