The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report highlights recent news on developments related to medical malpractice insurance in eight states. Summaries appear below.

• Georgia: State House Speaker Glenn Richardson (R) on Monday named the members of a special committee that will examine legislation to limit malpractice lawsuits and other tort reform bills, the Florida Times-Union reports. The Special Committee on Civil Justice Reform, which includes 10 Republicans and four Democrats, likely will meet for the first time in early February. The committee will have the ability to consider and pass legislation to the House floor (Larrabee, Florida Times-Union, 1/24). Meanwhile, the state Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday heard hours of testimony on SB 3, a bill that would cap noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits at $250,000 when one defendant is found liable and at $750,000 when multiple defendants are found liable (Jacobs, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1/25). The legislation would exempt emergency departments from noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits. The bill also would require plaintiffs who file malpractice lawsuits against physicians or hospitals to pay the legal costs of the defendants in certain cases, regardless of whether they win. In addition, in malpractice lawsuits with multiple defendants, the legislation would mandate that defendants only have to pay for the proportion of damages for which they are found liable (Billips, Macon Telegraph, 1/25).
  
  
• Illinois: The Lake County Medical Society on Monday launched a campaign to distribute to physicians plastic lime-green bracelets to highlight the increased number of physicians who have left Illinois because of high malpractice insurance costs, the Chicago Tribune reports. Jay Alexander of North Shore Cardiologists said that malpractice insurance premiums for the physician group have increased from $225,000 to $1.2 million over the last three years. "There's no way to recoup the losses ... which is why so many doctors are fleeing to Wisconsin and other states with medical liability reform," Alexander said (Kuczka, Chicago Tribune, 1/25).
  
  
• Maryland: State Republican lawmakers on Wednesday said they have begun to draft legislation that would repeal a 2% tax on HMO premiums recently implemented to finance a state fund to help physicians in Maryland cover the cost of malpractice insurance premiums, the Washington Times reports. The tax is part of malpractice reform legislation that Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) vetoed earlier this month; the state General Assembly subsequently voted to override the veto (Redding/Higgins, Washington Times, 1/27). HMOs recently notified state residents that premiums would increase to cover the cost of the tax (Salganik, Baltimore Sun, 1/25). State Senate President Thomas Miller (D) and House Speaker Michael Busch (D) on Wednesday called for state Insurance Commissioner Alfred Redmer (R) to resign over allegations that he posted a bulletin to encourage HMOs to increase premiums (Washington Times, 1/27). Busch also said that Redmer should have held a hearing on the HMO premium increases (Baltimore Sun, 1/25). Meanwhile, Ehrlich and some state lawmakers who oppose the law are "pushing for more legal changes to limit spiraling payouts in malpractice cases," and some state lawmakers who support the legislation are "talking about retooling" the structure of the state fund, the Washington Post reports. State Delegate Robert Zirkin (D) said, "We did not solve the medical malpractice problem. We've really just nibbled around the edges" (Wagner, Washington Post, 1/23).
  
  
• Montana: Physicians in the state on Wednesday testified before a state House committee in support of several medical liability reform bills under consideration by the committee, the Billings Gazette reports. Three separate bills would allow a physician to make a "statement of apology, sympathy or benevolence" to patients and families inadmissible as evidence in malpractice lawsuits. A fourth bill would remove legal liability from hospitals in malpractice lawsuits filed against physicians not employed by the facilities, and a fifth bill would remove legal liability from physicians in such lawsuits when hospital employees caused the alleged injuries. A sixth bill would require that expert witnesses who testify in malpractice lawsuits practice the same specialty as defendants (Olp, Billings Gazette, 1/26).
  
  
• South Carolina: Physicians in the state rallied at the South Carolina Statehouse on Wednesday "to push policy makers to change the medical liability system," the Charleston Post and Courier reports. The American Medical Association, which supported the rally, said that although South Carolina does not have a malpractice insurance "crisis," the state has "problem signs." According to physicians, the state must implement a cap on noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits to address high malpractice insurance premiums, which have forced some physicians to leave the state or their practices. The South Carolina Medical Association said that 25% of OB/GYNs in one county no longer perform deliveries because of high malpractice insurance premiums and that family-practice physicians in 10 other counties no longer deliver babies. However, according to the state, the number of physicians who practice in South Carolina increased 9.3% between 1999 and 2003 (Charleston Post and Courier, 1/24).
  
  
• Tennessee: About 450 physicians on Jan. 21 attended a meeting organized by the Tennessee Medical Association to discuss medical liability reform proposals, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports. At the meeting, state Sen. Mark Norris (R) and state Rep. Doug Overbey (R) discussed the "political hurdles" for legislation that they plan to propose on behalf of TMA and indicated that they might not introduce the bill in the current legislative session, the Commercial Appeal reports. TMA hopes to cap noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits at $250,000. Michael Murphy, a lobbyist for the Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association, said that physicians should not seek to limit the rights of plaintiffs to reduce malpractice insurance premiums. He said, "If there are problems with their insurance company, we are willing to sit down with them and look at solutions. Tennessee does not have runaway juries and our rates are not as high as other states around us" (Locker, Memphis Commercial Appeal, 1/22).
  
  
• Virginia: The state House this week is expected to pass an omnibus malpractice bill (SB 1173) that would require certification for expert witnesses who testify in malpractice lawsuits, allow physicians "to show empathy to patients without being held liable" and require the state Medical Review Board to evaluate physicians who have settled three or more malpractice lawsuits, the Washington Times reports (Bellantoni, Washington Times, 1/27). The bill also would require malpractice insurers to file claims data with the state to help "gauge verdict trends in Virginia courts and their relationship to premiums doctors pay," the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports (McKelway, Richmond Times-Dispatch, 1/22). The state Senate on Tuesday unanimously approved an identical version of the bill (Washington Times, 1/27). The legislation does not include a provision to cap noneconomic damages in malpractice lawsuits at $250,000, which "had been the centerpiece" of a campaign by physicians in the state, according to the Times-Dispatch (Richmond Times-Dispatch, 1/22). State Sen. Kenneth Stolle (R) called compromises reached on the bill -- which has the support of Gov. Mark Warner (D) and the state Senate Courts of Justice Committee -- a "pretty fragile coalition" (Virginian-Pilot, 1/21). State Delegate Bill Janis (R) added, "It is a balanced approach to identifying in the near term ways that we can make it a lot easier for our doctors to continue to practice medicine here in the commonwealth of Virginia. The biggest beneficiary of this will be patients in Virginia" (Washington Times, 1/27).
  
  
• Wyoming: The state House Labor, Social Services and Health Committee on Jan. 19 voted 4-4 on a medical liability reform bill, a move that effectively defeated the legislation, the AP/Billings Gazette reports. The bill would have eliminated the "loss of chance" malpractice doctrine, which seeks to compensate patients who experience negligent misdiagnoses or missed diagnoses that decrease their chance of recovery. The doctrine was established in 2003 by a Wyoming Supreme Court decision. James Kaste, an attorney for the Wyoming Hospital Association -- which supported the bill -- said that the doctrine unfairly targets health care providers. He added, "These people's injuries are very real. But the doctors shouldn't be responsible because they are not the cause." Wendy Curran of the Wyoming Medical Society said that the doctrine in some cases has prompted some physicians not to screen patients for tumors over liability concerns (AP/Billings Gazette, 1/20).