Wy. Doctors’ Group Says Caps Not the Only Answer to Malpractice Dilemma

Capping damage awards is not by itself the solution to Wyoming’s medical malpractice insurance cost dilemma, the incoming president of a state physicians group said.

“Even if Wyoming were to enact reforms like Colorado’s, it would not be enough,” said Dr. Robert Monger, vice president of the Wyoming Medical Society at a panel discussion. “We can’t piecemeal the system back together. Doing things like caps is not going to get there.”

Colorado has limited malpractice awards to $1 million and awards for non-economic damages, such as for pain and suffering, to $300,000. The Wyoming Legislature this year turned aside a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed capping of damage awards in doctor-caused injury cases.

Rep. Becket Hinckley, R-Cheyenne, who opposed the amendment, said Monger’s statement was a “tectonic change” from the medical society’s previous position.

Wendy Curran, executive director of the society, said she did not agree that Monger’s statement represented any major change from what the society has advocated. She said the society favors caps as a necessary short-term step to be followed by broader long-term solutions to make the system more fair.

Monger said in an interview, “I think we should have caps,” but they would not be the final solution. He said he favors a no-fault system, so that doctors and patients would be on the same side instead of being pitted against each other.

Under the present system, he said, “We grossly under compensate people.”

Jeff Brinkerhoff, a Casper attorney, said he did not believe insurance rates would go down without a cap. Brinkerhoff said a malpractice crisis in Wyoming “is imminent, if it is not already here.”

Other speakers accepted the company’s statement that the announcement was not prompted by the Legislature’s failure to act on caps, saying the company had dropped six other states and was concentrating on Ohio.

Rhonda Woodard, a Cheyenne attorney and former lobbyist for trial lawyers, said a constitutional amendment “is absolutely not called for.” Woodard said there is “no reason to believe that we are going to have a crisis here because of OHIC leaving the state.”

Amanda Hunkins, an attorney and lobbyist for the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association in Cheyenne, said the Wyoming Constitution forbids limiting a person’s right to seek damages because at the time the constitution was drawn, the Union Pacific Railroad was powerful in the state.

The Joint Judiciary Interim Committee will examine malpractice issues before the 2005 session, including self-insurance, reinsurance, rate regulation and funding of damage awards.

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