Every now and then, a blogger decides to charge a windmill. I tend to do it more than most. I’m doing it again today.
I am asking Governor McDonnell to veto SB771 – a bill that won aye votes from 40 Senators and 92 Delegates. I ask him because those 132 legislators are wrong. We have yet another class Paul Wells Second Rule moment (adapted from Canada to Virginia): If everyone in Richmond knows something, it’s not true.
SB771 is a recently passed bill that would raise the “malpractice cap,” i.e., the maximum amount plaintiffs can win in malpractice suits, from $2 million to just under $3 million. According to the Washington Post, two lawyers (!) in the General Assembly basically presented the bill to the medical community as an offer they couldn’t refuse.
That is passed so easily is troubling; if Governor McDonnell were to sign it, it would send a terrible signal to doctors and health professionals across the country.
One of the least discussed aspects of the health care debate is our chronic and increasing doctor shortage (Jim Bacon provides the gory details in Boomergeddon, pages 114-119). While there has been frighteningly little discussion about how to address the shortage, it is without doubt that upping the malpractice cap will discourage the practice of medicine, and make the shortage worse. Our elected officials should not be exacerbating this problem.
I know I’m coming very late to the game on this.
I know I’m asking the Governor (on whom I’ve been hard on various occasions) to stick his neck way out and hope his veto will convince enough Republicans in at least one house to come to their senses (14 in the Senate, 28 in the House to add to the 6 current opponents).
However, I am also asking the Governor to keep the legislature from making the doctor shortage worse.
Please, Governor, veto SB771.
