The governor asks voters to pepper senators who resist his view of medical malpractice reform.
By STEVE BOUSQUET and JAY CRIDLIN
Published June 12, 2003
SUN CITY CENTER - Gov. Jeb Bush turned up the heat Wednesday on medical malpractice reform, urging voters to pressure "wandering senators" from the Tampa Bay area who oppose a $250,000 cap on certain damages.
Bush's stop at South Bay Hospital dramatized his concern that the Senate's opposition to limits on damages may doom a solution in a four-day special session that begins Monday in Tallahassee.
He urged a small group of retirees and medical professionals to call or e-mail senators now.
"There are a few wandering senators who need to get back on the reservation to deal with this crisis," Bush told a roundtable discussion at the south Hillsborough County hospital. "Take Sarasota, Manatee and Hillsborough County. Their senators are not committed to meaningful reform, and I think they need to hear, politely and respectfully, about how this plays out in the real world."
Bush identified four senators as Victor Crist of Tampa, Lisa Carlton of Osprey, Michael Bennett of Bradenton, and Tom Lee of Brandon - all Republicans. All four oppose a central element of the Bush plan: limiting damages for pain and suffering in malpractice cases to $250,000, regardless of the number of defendants.
Lee, whose district includes Sun City Center, said he and Bush had a friendly meeting on the issue last week. He expressed surprise at Bush's remarks.
"I hope we're not having a nice conversation in private and he's calling me a wandering senator in public," Lee said. "If he's got something to say to me, he can say it to my face."
Recalling their meeting, Lee said of Bush: "I told him I wasn't in this issue to give a payback to the FMA (Florida Medical Association) or the trial bar for their support or opposition to Republican politics, and I was going to do what was right."
Lee said senators - disgusted with how a workers' compensation bill was approved last month - demanded a marathon, seven-hour hearing before the full Senate next Monday to give all sides time to make their arguments.
Lawmakers have been buffeted for months by three competing and powerful political forces: doctors, insurance companies and trial lawyers. The 60-day regular session and a 15-day special session ended without the malpractice dilemma being solved.
Like Bush, the medical lobby considers a $250,000 cap crucial to a reform package. Trial lawyers are strongly opposed to a cap, and they have solid support in the Senate.
"When you are the victim, and they cut off the wrong foot, that has a value," said Sen. Alex Villalobos, R-Miami, a lawyer. "When you ruin somebody's life, that has a value. What it is I don't know - is it only $250,000? I don't think so."
Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, plans to push for a cap of $800,000, a figure he said is modeled after the 1975 California cap of $250,000, adjusted for inflation. Pruitt's model also would apply separately to every defendant in a case, not to all defendants as a group.
Pruitt said there is "no chance" the Senate would approve a cap on noneconomic damages unless it could be breached in a case of "gross negligence." Doctors strongly oppose such an exemption.
Moreover, Pruitt said, a cap is not a "cureall," but part of a broad solution that mandates lowers rates, limits the potential for lawsuits against emergency rooms and teaching hospitals and preserves "bad faith" laws to force insurance companies to settle claims before trial.
The House is more supportive of Bush's position on capping damages. But an unscientific survey, posted on the House Web site - myfloridahouse.com - does not support the House's stand. A question on the site asks, "Do you support capping punitive damage awards in trials at $250,000?"
Such surveys are prone to electronic manipulation by one side or the other. But as of Wednesday, the result was 48 percent yes, 50 percent no and 2 percent not sure.
House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City, said an "impasse" could result in the session ending without agreement.
"I get the distinct impression that the governor has kind of a position where he wants to be on the issue of caps, and bad faith and some of those other big issues," Byrd said in a meeting with the St. Petersburg Times editorial board. "If the Senate doesn't come to some threshold of where the governor wants to be, I have a feeling that he'll just say, "We'll bring you back another time.' So I can see us coming back."
Asked to explain the different philosophies of the two houses, Byrd said: "The House is more closely aligned with the governor, and the Senate is more closely aligned with the trial lawyers."
Said Bush: "We'll get it done eventually, but I'd prefer it get done next week."
