McDonnell vetoes bills raising medical malpractice cap

Officials from groups representing Virginia's doctors, hospitals and trial lawyers said Wednesday they hope state lawmakers will override Gov. Bob McDonnell's veto of legislation that would raise the cap on medical malpractice awards.

McDonnell announced Wednesday that he had rejected bills that called for increasing the state's limit on payouts in such lawsuits by $50,000 a year, beginning in 2012, until it reaches $3 million in 2031. The state's cap has remained frozen at $2 million since 2008.

The proposed law gained nearly unanimous approval from the House and Senate. However, McDonnell declined to support it because he worried that higher malpractice awards could lead to higher health care costs for doctors, hospitals, businesses and patients, according to a spokesman.

"The governor does not feel like this makes sense as our economy recovers," Jeff Caldwell wrote in an email.

McDonnell's action disappointed leaders of the Medical Society of Virginia and the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, who had brokered an agreement over two years that led to the legislation. The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association also had supported the plan.

Dr. Cynthia Romero, the medical society's president, said increases in malpractice premiums for physicians would be manageable under the proposed legislation because the cap would rise slowly over time.

"It really allows fairness but accountability for the physicians," said Romero, who also serves as chief medical officer at Chesapeake Regional Medical Center.

Jack L. Harris, the trial lawyers association's executive director, said continuing a freeze on the cap would harm the most severely injured people who need more money to pay their bills.

"It's really important that, for those people, the cap continues to increase every year because the cost of medical care is certainly increasing every year," he said.

Both said they would rather see the current proposal become law than return to the negotiating table. Katharine Webb, a senior vice president with the hospital association, also said her group had written to legislators requesting an override when the General Assembly meets next week.

"The problem is we talked for two years, and we covered pretty much every possible way to better address this," Harris said. "Everyone, as far as I knew, who had an interest in this subject agreed that this was the right solution."

Amy Jeter, (757) 446-2730, amy.jeter@pilotonline.com