This past Friday, the New York Times ran a piece on the recent influx of doctors to Texas ("More Doctors in Texas After Malpractice Caps," October 5, 2007). The article cited the long waiting lines for doctors wanting to receive their license to practice medicine in Texas:The Texas Medical Board reports licensing 10,878 new physicians since 2003, up from 8,391 in the prior four years. It issued a record 980 medical licenses at its last meeting in August, raising the number of doctors in Texas to 44,752, with a backlog of nearly 2,500 applications. Of those awaiting processing, the largest number, after Texas, come from New York (145), followed by California (118) and Florida (100). But are Texas patients receiving better care? Another set of statistics -- which was not included in the NY Times article -- shows that there has been a significant increase in disciplinary actions against doctors. The following figures are from the Texas Medical Board:Total Disciplinary Actions:
2002: 187
2003: 277
2004: 256
2005: 304
2006: 335 Eric Turkewitz, a personal injury attorney in New York, also notes that the figures don't look much better for 2007:By the way, 2007 isn't shaping up much better, with 88 doctors disciplined at the Medical Board's August meeting, 30 in June, 34 in April, and 41 in February. That's 193 so far, with two more meetings to go, on a pace to well exceed the 2002 numbers. Ultimately, it is better for Texas to attract high-quality doctors --- but not if recruiting those doctors jeopardizes the health care of Texans. Texans for Lawsuit Reform -- the group that pushed tort reform through in 2003 -- would disagree with me, I'm sure. But they also hired as a TLR spokesmen a doctor who misdiagnosed bone cancer in a 16-year old girl, so their credibility on promoting patient's rights comes into question.
Prop 12 was all about the politics -- Republicans wanting to limit the size of lawsuits so that trial lawyers wouldn't have as much money to donate to Democrats. Prop 12 was never about Texas patients having greater access to quality health care -- and all you have to do is look at the Texas Medical Board's own disciplinary action history I cited above to believe me.
For more on the push for tort reform in 2003, read the Texas Monthly article, "Huty? Injured? Need a Lawyer? Too Bad!"
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