For the first time in 16 years, the N.C. General Assembly has passed meaningful medical liability reform. Senate Bill 33 will help reduce medical and legal costs, increase access to care, and improve our state health policy.
The carefully crafted bill includes a cap on noneconomic damages and important protections for emergency care that will help limit excessive malpractice awards in North Carolina — while still providing 100 percent of injured patients’ medical costs, lost wages, and substantial compensation for pain and suffering.
The resulting potential for financial loss among plaintiffs’ trial lawyers has generated a huge effort by them to urge Governor Perdue veto Senate Bill 33. To save this hard-won medical liability reform, we need your help today.
Senate Bill 33 is the product of an extensive legislative debate that lasted more than two months. From the beginning, the N.C. Medical Society, allied health care organizations, the N.C. Chamber of Commerce, and other groups supporting meaningful liability reform have demonstrated flexibility and willingness to accommodate any legitimate concern legislators raised.
But now the elaborate process of debate, amendment, and compromise, which included adjustments to the cap on noneconomic damages, is over. We should not further change the bill to placate the insatiable plaintiffs’ lawyers, who opposed meaningful reform at every turn.
Please call or write Governor Perdue today using the contact information below and ask her to sign Senate Bill 33. In your communication, please emphasize the following points:
The General Assembly has enacted a vital medical liability reform bill that:
- Preserves the right of patients to fully recover for harm caused by medical negligence, plus substantial noneconomic damages;
- Removes unnecessary medical and legal costs from the liability system; and
- Reduces patients’ health care costs and improves access for everyone by addressing defensive medicine.
Contact Information for Governor Perdue:
Office of the Governor
Constituent Services Office
116 West Jones Street
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603
Phone: (800) 662-7952 or (919) 733-2391
Fax: (919) 733-2120
[email protected]