South Carolina Senate Fact #17: South Carolina in Danger of Losing Doctors

Lawsuit abuse is putting South Carolina at the brink of a medical malpractice disaster. According to a poll conducted by the Health Coalition on Liability and Access, 78 percent of South Carolina residents said that their care is threatened by rising insurance rates. The situation has gotten so out of hand that a national doctors’ group identified South Carolina as “in danger” of losing access to treatment.

That’s because frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits are running rampant in the Palmetto State. Trial lawyers often walk away with millions of dollars from these suits, while taxpayers, doctors, and patients ultimately foot the bill through higher insurance premiums and health care costs. The end result is that many physicians are leaving South Carolina because they can’t afford rising malpractice insurance rates.

Luckily, Representative Jim DeMint supports a commonsense solution to this crisis: a cap on non-economic damage awards. This measure will go a long way towards stopping junk malpractice lawsuits and is working effectively in other states.

Jim DeMint even signed the FreedomWorks Candidate Survey and pledged to support malpractice reform that would stop the fleecing of doctors and patients. Inez Tenenbaum, on the other hand, would not curb lawsuit abuse and refuses to sign the Candidate Survey. By opposing caps on non-economic damages, Tenenbaum shows South Carolinians that she stands with the trial lawyers and John Kerry— not with patients and doctors.

Another important fact: the trial lawyer lobby stopped meaningful malpractice reform in the U.S. Senate by only one vote. South Carolina’s new Senator could determine whether or not the entire country will be able to save health care from the trial lawyers.

For more information, please visit http://www.freedomworks.org/southcarolina/