Dr. John Bastulli, VP of legislative affairs for the AMC/NOMA, recently debated J. Michael Monteleone, personal injury attorney at the Cleveland law firm of Jeffries, Kube, Forrest & Monteleone Co., L.P.A. on WCPN’s (90.3 FM non-commercial public radio) program hosted by Dave Pignanelli.
The topic: “Scales vs. Scalpels” focused on the state’s medical liability crisis and asked who’s to blame: trial lawyers, doctors or insurance companies? Some of the questions posed to the interviewees by Mr. Pignanelli included: Where is Ohio as far as its version of tort reform? When caps were placed did insurance companies freeze their rates for doctors? What is the dollar amount awarded by a jury that’s deemed excessive and requires a judge to step in?
Dr. Bastulli did an excellent job in representing the AMC/NOMA and explaining to the listening audience that states who have enacted “meaningful tort reform” have medical liability rates that are one-third less than Cuyahoga County’s current rates. He deflected the common notion that insurance companies are increasing their rates to compensate for poor financial investments in the late 1990s by explaining the insurance industry is heavily regulated and, by law, is only able to invest a small percentage into high risk funds.
He said while the insurance industry saw financial losses, as many investors did in the late 1990s, they were modest. He said the reason doctors have not seen substantial decreases in medical liability rates yet is because the legislation needs to mature and “meaningful tort reform” needs to be enacted in the state.
Dr. Bastulli deciphered for the audience the difference between “tort reform” and “meaningful tort reform” by explaining we need caps on pain and suffering, limits on attorney contingency fees, expert hearing panels and to establish a mediation system.