AMA readies for battle on tort reform

The ambitious plan passed at the Annual Meeting could cost more than $15 million to carry out, with $12 million set for a national ad campaign to educate the public.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. July 8/15, 2002.

Physicians launched an all-out attack on the medical liability crisis at the American Medical Association's Annual Meeting in June, making liability reform the AMA's "highest legislative priority."

They're calling for legislation at the state and federal levels. They want a public education campaign geared to help the public understand how the crisis affects access to care. They want a state-by-state analysis of litigation costs under the current tort system. They want grassroots physicians to call and write their legislators. They want physicians to donate money to political action committees and the AMA Fund for Liability Reform. They want to study a no-fault liability system. And, by December, they want a plan for a national liability reform event, perhaps a rally or march.

"I'm tired of small victories," New Jersey delegate Angelo S. Argo, MD, an otolaryngologist, told doctors gathered in Chicago. "What I care about is survival. If we want to be effective, we need to be an 800-pound gorilla."

And to be that 800-pound gorilla, doctors know they need others to heed their battle cry.

Delegates asked the AMA to recruit others to join them in the conflict they've been fighting periodically over the past 30 years.

They want patients to be part of a broad-based coalition of physicians, trade and professional associations, small and large businesses, farmers and others who can educate the public that it will be the one to suffer if physicians can't afford insurance. That's one of the things that helped states such as California, Louisiana and Indiana get meaningful reform. [...]