Why We're Concerned

The current system of law as practiced in Nevada allows that a physician guilty of malpractice can be punished in the following ways:

• Civil suit- economic and non-economic damages, both are paid by the insurer.
• License suspension or revocation
• Criminal court (jail time)
• Punitive damages... (confirm)

The tort system is not the method in which to punish bad doctors for malpractice but rather is designed to compensate victims of medical malpractice. The KODIN Initiative enhanced the ability for victims to be made whole for economic and non-economic damages by limiting fees that attorneys can charge.

An exemption to the cap on pain suffering for gross negligence will not penalize bad doctors or “make them pay for what they’ve done”, because insurance companies pay damages.

Rather an exemption to the cap on pain and suffering penalizes good doctors by driving up their premiums and penalizes Nevadans by reducing the number of practicing doctors and reducing their access to health care.

Both personally and professionally, we are infuriated by those doctors who both compromise the integrity of Nevada ’s healthcare system and tarnish the image of the medical profession and those who have dedicated their lives to healing people. We want to take away their ability to practice in Nevada . But AB 495 does nothing to remove bad doctors from their ability to practice in Nevada . Nor does it do anything to protect patients from bad doctors.

We commit to working with the legislature on the existing bills going through the process which will strengthen the more appropriate methods in which to punish bad doctors and keep them from practicing in our state.

Gross negligence cannot be defined, particularly within the statutory language proposed in AB 495. It is broad enough that any personal injury lawyer can bring a case thereby continuing efforts to expand the definition through case law and opening the definition up to include more and more jury awards.

In the courtroom, a jury will determine whether gross negligence took place. According an article within the New England Journal of Medicine, juries tend to make their decisions as to whether gross negligence occurred not on the circumstances of care, but rather on the outcomes of care.

Nevada juries have a history of high awards.

Why , at a time when state policy makers are trying to increase access to healthcare, would we want to roll back the reforms made earlier this decade that have since increased access to healthcare for Nevadans, particularly for essential OB/GYN and trauma services?

The current rendition of AB 495 was not a good faith compromise on the part of the trial lawyers. It was their intention all along to bring forth a bill to create an exemption in the pain and suffering cap for gross negligence.

Contact Your Legislators Today!! >>