Malpractice petition introduced in Nevada Senate

The doctor-sponsored initiative petition tightening medical malpractice award caps and limiting lawyer fees was introduced Friday in the Nevada Senate.

The petition is intended to bring down high malpractice premiums for doctors -- particularly specialists like obstetricians.

But IP1 may never see a committee hearing. A nearly identical bill, SB97, is favored by lawmakers because it would allow amendments and more time for discussion.

State law dictates that the petition must be passed as is, or it would head to the 2004 ballot as a voter initiative. It would have to be approved by mid-March.

Lawmakers were reluctant to work within those confines, so petition backers persuaded the Senate Judiciary Committee to introduce SB97.

The nearly identical measure is up for a hearing early next month. If the new bill is approved, doctors say they'll campaign against the initiative.

"Keep Our Doctors In Nevada" lobbyist Scott Craigie says the bill is so close to the petition that only four words are different.

The group funded by hospitals, doctors and the Nevada State Medical Association spent $175,000 late last year in gathering 95,000 petition signatures.

They recently launched a television advertising campaign in Reno and Las Vegas and paid for a statewide poll showing that Nevadans favored changes in malpractice tort law. Poll respondents also blamed insurance companies slightly more than lawyers for Nevada's "health care problems."

Both the petition and SB97 would allow doctors to make malpractice claim payments over time and limit liability of doctors partially involved in a medical procedure.

They would also strip away two exemptions from a $350,000 pain-and-suffering malpractice award cap.

The cap enacted last October left open exemptions for "special circumstances" and "gross negligence." It was crafted in a special session as a compromise between insurers, doctors and trial lawyers.

Several insurers have since raised malpractice premiums, saying they were unsure whether the law would stand up to constitutional challenges. Any new law would likely face the same problem.

Lawyer groups, Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, and Gov. Kenny Guinn oppose any new tort reform. They want to give last year's law time to work.