Dr. Kostantinos Psihramis says he wanted to make a difference when he relocated from Virginia to the southern Illinois town of Belleville in late 2005, filling one of two holes created when specialists left the area.
The urologist was concerned about the area’s reputation as lawsuit-friendly but felt confident a new Illinois law limiting malpractice awards would help keep insurance rates reasonable.
“It sort of opened the door for me to come,” Psihramis said.
But a court ruling last week has Psihramis and other doctors worried that insurance rates could rise again and force some doctors to leave Illinois.
A Cook County judge tossed out the caps on some malpractice awards, saying they unconstitutionally limited victims’ rights to recovery for their injuries. Now the Illinois Supreme Court will decide the fate of the caps.
“We lose this, it’s going to be devastating,” said Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville.
Soaring malpractice insurance rates hit doctors hard in 2003 and 2004. By 2005, dozens were closing their practices, unable to afford the higher rates.
Patients were left scrambling to find doctors, especially in specialties like brain surgery and gynecology, and the losses threatened to drive up health care costs throughout the state.
The Democrat-controlled Legislature and Gov. Rod Blagojevich gave in to pressure from doctors, despite complaints from trial lawyers _ some of their biggest political supporters _ that they were interfering with victims’ rights to compensation.
The 2005 law included a $500,000 cap on non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, that victims can receive in malpractice cases against doctors, and a $1 million cap in awards against hospitals.
The law also gave state insurance regulators more power to review and lower rates they deemed too high, and strengthened state oversight of doctors to punish wrongdoing.
Howard Peters of the Illinois Hospital Association says hospitals saw an end to the drove of doctors leaving the state, and it became easier to recruit new doctors fresh out of medical school.
State data show 5,000 more doctors are licensed in Illinois now than two years ago, three new insurance companies are providing coverage for doctors and 10 existing insurers have dropped their rates by 5 percent to more than 30 percent.
Malpractice lawsuits also are down dramatically, according to a survey of Illinois’ largest counties by Chicago trial lawyer firm Clifford Law Offices.
More than 2,000 lawsuits were filed in 19 Illinois counties in 2003. That number dropped to 1,640 in 2005 and to 1,341 in 2006. This year, through September, just 882 cases had been filed in those counties.
Those results leave some advocates exasperated about the ruling.
“It’s working to bring doctors back to the state, and in the twinkling of an eye it could all disappear because of one Cook County judge,” said Travis Akin of Illinois Lawsuit Abuse Watch, a lawsuit reform group.
But critics of the malpractice caps say other factors are at play.
Trial lawyers and some Democrat lawmakers say doctors were pinched by a cyclical increase in insurance rates and poor business practices by insurers, not lawsuits. Now that insurers are more tightly regulated, rates are dropping.
Rep. John Fritchey, D-Chicago, said many of the doctors could “have been victims of spin just like anybody else.”
“They can presume that the worst is behind them and have entered into another cycle of acceptable premium rates,” he said.
Also, malpractice lawyers are more cautious about cases they try to take to court.
“It’s just hurt the odds of winning those cases. A smart lawyer is going to be much more careful than 10 years ago,” said Keith Hebeisen, a Clifford Law Offices lawyer and former president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.
The ruling Tuesday by Cook County Judge Diane Joan Larsen wasn’t a surprise. Similar caps have been tossed out twice before by the Illinois Supreme Court, and cap opponents promised to challenge this law as soon as it passed.
The state Supreme Court eventually will weigh in on the most recent law, which could take several months to more than a year, but cap advocates hope for a better outcome because these caps are structured differently.
This time they apply only to malpractice cases; when they were thrown out in 1997, they also applied to broader personal injury cases.
What happens next is clouded in uncertainty. Health care providers hope doctors and insurers don’t panic before the Supreme Court weighs in.
“You have a situation that went from bad to better,” Peters said. “Now we could be headed back down a very dark path.”
But the founder of one of the state’s new insurers, Doctors Direct Inc., says the fate of the caps law will have no bearing on his company’s efforts to encourage competition and lower rates.
“We’re not going anywhere. We’re definitely going to be here,” said Kim Presbey, a former trial lawyer whose company is slowly building up a roster of dozens of doctors after starting up in the spring. “Our existence has been a very positive one.”
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Insurer Chubb Readies $350M Payout Tied to Baltimore Bridge Collapse 
Pfizer Agrees to Settle More Than 10,000 Zantac Cancer Lawsuits 
Viewpoint: The 10 Major Risks Shaping Insurance Today 
Billionaire Ellison Is Moving Oracle to Nashville From Texas 
