Two days ago, the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal struck down Louisiana's Medical Malpractice Act as unconstitutional with respect to its application to nurse practitioners in Joe Oliver, et al vs Magnolia Clinic, et al, No. 09-439. While, for the moment, the decision is limited to application of the medical malpractice procedures and caps on damages for nurse practitioners, there can be no doubt from the language of the opinion what the outcome of two other cases making their way to the Court of Appeal will be when applied to doctors and other health care providers covered by the Act.  Clearly, the decision is a blow to the medical industry lobby and special interest groups who have long opposed any change to the law in the slightest that would diminish the special protections given to them in 1975 as the result of dubious evidence of an "insurance crisis".

The other important thing about the opinion is its methodical de-bunking of the supposed link between the Act's sweeping protections and lower health care costs in Louisiana or elsewhere.  The opinion ridicules the stale claims of the State that somehow the Act and its draconian $500,000.00 "all inclusive" cap promotes lower insurance premiums and keeping doctors from fleeing to other jurisdictions with med mal caps and protections.  Relying on data and conclusions from non-partisan, objective sources such as the Congressional Budget Office, the Court has published what many of us have known for years; that these rationalizations are fig leaves to promote the interests of a privileged few over those least able to bear or afford the loss.  Those most affected by these med mal caps are those who have suffered devastating injury or death due to medical malpractice; not those who have suffered lesser injuries that would be under the cap.  

We can now expect a full-court press from the medical lobby with wild claims of chaos and ruin in Louisiana's medical community with doctors packing their bags to move to Texas and elsewhere.  These special interest groups have money, lawyers and lobbyists to look out for themselves in Baton Rouge and Washington. It is very important to awaken the people of Louisiana themselves that their rights are at stake and to resist attempts to re-impose these draconian laws at their expense for the benefit of a wealthy few ... More to come on this in my next blog ...