News

Poll: 71% Support Medical Malpractice Measure that would destabilize MICRA

This ominous article appeared in the Sacramento Business Journal May 18, 2014.

A recent poll of California voters found seven out of 10 back an initiative on the November ballot to raise the medical malpractice cap.

A Tulchin Research survey of 3,500 voters likely to vote in November shows that, after reading the title and summary, 71 percent said they would vote “Yes.” Another 21 percent said “No” and 8 percent remain undecided.

The online survey was conducted April 29 though May 8. The margin of error is plus or minus 1.79 percentage points. It was paid for by the campaign committee that supports the measure, which says results prove the measure is popular with California voters and well positioned to pass.

Related:
Bereaved father explains ‘the sweeteners’ in malpractice measure
Medical malpractice initiative qualifies for November ballot
Initiative to lift malpractice cap pits lawyers against doctors

OMIC Article:
MICRA Critical to Protecting Ophthalmic Practice Across the United States

Opponents say the poll doesn’t reflect what they’ve heard.

“The results of this online poll are inconsistent — in some parts, dramatically so — with what we’ve seen and heard from voters on this issue. We don’t believe it is an accurate reflection of voter opinion,” David Binder, research director for the Coalition Opposed to Higher Health Costs, said in a statement. The campaign did not elaborate.

The initiative — dubbed the Troy and Alana Pack Patient Safety Act —  qualified for the Nov. 6 elections ballot on Thursday. It seeks to index the $250,000 cap on non-economic damages under the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act to inflation. In 2014, that means $1.1 million.

If approved by voters, the measure also would require random drug and alcohol testing or doctors and require doctors to check a statewide database before prescribing narcotics.

The measure is named for Robert Pack’s two children, who were killed on a roadside by a drugged driver who had doctor-shopped for painkillers.

“This issue is about accountability and compensation,” Pack  said in a recent interview. Pack tried nine law firms before he got one willing to take his case and when the lawsuit finally settled, the family’s damages for pain suffering were within the $250,000 cap got each child.

The measure will prompt more lawsuits and jack up health-care costs for everybody, opponents say.

A coalition of providers, and business, labor and civil liberties organizations has raised $36 million to defeat the initiative. Backers have raised about $2 million and spent most of that qualifying the measure.