No compromise, no cap on medical malpractice awards [The Daily Star-Journal, Warrensburg, Mo.]

May 19--JEFFERSON CITY -- Medical malpractice reform failed, leaving the amount that juries can award wide open in Missouri.

The Missouri Supreme Court last year ruled the old cap unconstitutional for depriving the public of a right to appear before juries. The $350,000 cap resulted in lawyers settling cases regularly rather than go to the expense of a trial.

Democrats suggested a new cap of $750,000 with a cost of living adjustment. Republicans offered $500,000 without a COLA.

The two sides did not come together with the result being there still is no cap.

"The exposure for doctors right now is higher than it needs to be," Sen. Jason Holsman, D-Kansas City, said Friday. "We were ready to work out a compromise that we felt was rational and reasonable for everybody involved."

Setting the cap too low would not solve the problem that resulted in the Supreme Court striking down the law, he said.

"That cap should reflect an amount that would put the decision-making in the trial phase and not these backroom settlements," Holsman said. "When you have a $350,000 cap, it's so easy for the lawyers to say, 'Just settle it,' and that's what they were doing. You put it at $750,000, with a COLA, then all of the sudden they're not going to do a settlement, they're going to do a discovery of the facts...

"We believe the right to a jury trial is a fundamental constitutional right, both in the state and federal constitutions."

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