Doctors target 'lawsuit abuse' in Nevada TV ad campaign

RENO -- A coalition of doctors and health officials has launched a statewide television advertising campaign designed to drum up support for new medical liability laws.

But a leading lawyer who opposes the reforms said the coalition is an extremist group that does not represent the interests of most of Nevada's doctors.

The new ad by "Keep Our Doctors in Nevada" that began running this week on stations in Reno and Las Vegas is the first in a series that will appear during the 2003 Legislature.

Scott Craigie, a legislative lobbyist and spokesman for the coalition in Reno, said the ads are designed to prod lawmakers to consider proposals featured in an initiative petition the group spearheaded last year.

Among other provisions, the measure would abolish exceptions to a $350,000 cap on jury awards for malpractice pain-and-suffering damages. Lawmakers approved the cap at a special session last summer.

The Legislature now has a choice of passing the petition as is or rejecting it within 40 days after the Feb. 3 start of the session. If lawmakers reject the proposal, it will go before voters in 2004.

"Unfortunately, the legislation passed last summer didn't get the job done," Craigie said. "Legislators did a sincere job, but you can't solve such a complex problem in four days."

The ad campaign comes two weeks after the largest Nevada doctors group announced 76 medical specialists have closed their practices since last March due to skyrocketing malpractice insurance premiums.

The Nevada State Medical Association said another 126 doctors were either seriously considering, or are in the process of, closing down.

Lawmakers acted last summer after the trauma center at the University Medical Center in Las Vegas closed for 10 days because 58 orthopedic doctors temporarily quit, citing sky-high insurance costs.

The coalition's initial ad blames the problem on malpractice jury awards.

"Lawsuit abuse has created a health care crisis, making it difficult for women to find doctors, driving good doctors out of Nevada and leaving us without health care," the announcer claims.

But Bill Bradley of the Bradley, Drendel & Jeanney law firm of Reno criticized the coalition's campaign and blamed the problem on the insurance industry's poor business practices.

He said most Nevada doctors support the law passed last year. He said the coalition is an extremist group trying to strip away the rights of malpractice victims.

"What they're really trying to do is take people's rights away in order to make insurance companies and corporations more profitable," said Bradley, a member of the Nevada Trial Lawyers Association's board of governors.

"They want corporate presidents deciding the amount of money an injured person should receive rather than a Nevada jury. We will be fighting this vigorously. Victims of malpractice will be fighting this because they're the ones whose rights are being taken away," he said.

The coalition's initiative would abolish such exceptions to the $350,000 cap on damages as cases of gross malpractice and cases in which a judge determines a higher award is justified because of "exceptional circumstances."

The initiative also limits attorney fees. Lawyers could collect no more than 40 percent of the first $50,000 awarded, a third of the next $50,000, a quarter of the next $500,000 and 15 percent of the remaining account.

"Another round of doctors will leave the state without this," Craigie said. "The crisis is very serious and is costing us every month."