Initial reaction from the governor's office is that the overture won't be good enough. That would mean another session.
By ALISA ULFERTS
Published July 18, 2003
TALLAHASSEE - Senate leaders made what they called their final offer on medical malpractice Thursday and went home to await word from Gov. Jeb Bush.
The initial reaction from Bush's office suggested the debate will continue for several more weeks.
"Their numbers probably aren't where we need to be," Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings said. The Senate proposed a $4-million ceiling on pain and suffering awards.
If lawmakers cannot craft a solution Bush supports before the special session expires Monday night, the governor likely will send them home for several weeks rather than call them back immediately, Jennings said.
Bush had vowed to call lawmakers back next week, and throughout the summer until they make a deal he can accept.
The Senate's latest offer keeps a basic $500,000 cap on pain and suffering damages but allows some victims of egregious malpractice to collect up to $4-million if certain difficult criteria are met. Emergency room physicians and other doctors who are called into the ER for consultations would have a $250,000 cap.
That's less than the $6-million ceiling the Senate previously proposed but still far more than the $250,000 basic cap and $2.5-million ceiling Bush has said he'll accept.
"There's no one who can look at this bill and say it doesn't fix the problem," said Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville. "I don't know where else we can go."
Because a large percentage of medical malpractice cases involves a single plaintiff who can sue at most one or two doctors and maybe the hospital, senators have said $250,000 is too low to use as a cap.
"We don't have the votes in the Senate, according to my analysis, for a cap below $500,000," said Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon.
But they were quick to point out that it would be nearly impossible for a patient to ever collect the full $4-million allowed under their plan. A patient would have to prove that a doctor, hospital and lab, for example, all knew or should have known that the treatment would result in permanent and total disability to the patient.
"We can't even think of a law school quiz, and I give them, where you could get to that," said Sen. Rod Smith, D-Alachua, one of the Senate's chief negotiators.
Bush has said he would build public pressure on Senate Republicans to support a lower cap. Waiting a few weeks for another special session would give him time to do that.
Bush plans to contact business groups and local Republican leaders to dry up campaign funds for those senators, including Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island, and Lee, whom he finds particularly troublesome and is in line to replace King as Senate president.
Byrd promised Thursday to look at the newest Senate plan and continue negotiating.
But King might have trouble passing his own plan. The newest offer does not include a mandatory rollback in insurance rates, which many Senate Democrats have said is a must if King wants their votes. There is a rate freeze in the plan, but no rollback.
