There is a provision in the Oregon Better Health Act (SB 27) that has drawn criticism by several Onward Oregon members who are members of the legal community. SB 27 Section 11, sets up six subcommittees, with one subcommittee set up to (as currently written) “make recommendations concerning how to address the issue of medical liability including, but not limited to, a consideration of the implementation of a Medical Review Panel and a Patient’s Compensation Fund, and providing liability protection for those health care organizations and providers that adhere to established best-practice standards and guidelines.”

A vocal member of the trial lawyer community brought to our attention and to the attention of others that, while this provision does not itself impose any tort reform, the subcommittee might open the door to imposing barriers to civil justice. Onward Oregon has never offered specific support for tort reform, and indeed Onward Oregon worked to defeat the 2004 ballot initiative (Measure 35) which would have limited access to justice for many injured patients.

And by supporting the Oregon Better Health Act, we are not supporting every provision of it. We offer no specific advocacy for the medical liability provision. Indeed, there would significant opposition to any law that worked to limit the protections of patients. Rather, our focus is on reforming health care, and we are working to raise awareness regarding several bills on that score, so that volunteers can take action if they choose. We hope that the Archimedes Movement (the grassroots group that developed the Oregon Better Health Act) and the Oregon Trial Lawyers Association can work together to amend the proposed legislation in a way that both organizations can support.

Paraphrasing Donald Rumsfeld, “We take the bills that we have, not the bills that we might want to or wish to have at a later time.” For instance, there is a provision in the Measure 37 reform bill that might be terrible. The provision allows for transferability of Measure 37 property rights. At the same time, on balance the bill seems good, and the Onward Oregon volunteer steering committee will probably elect to support the bill. That doesn’t mean we support every provision. This issue prompts one reason why we want to give good information to our online members: so that each member can choose which actions to support.

But there’s a broader point here. If democracy needs anything, it needs public interest power. Not just political power for the advancement of the individual interests, but work focused on the greater good. So that the political arena is not just a triangulation of power, but advancement of the public good. Even in this analysis, what matters is not what’s best for some particular interest, but what’s best for the general interest. That means access to justice, and that also means a health system that’s good for people and actually promotes health.

In any event, stay tuned to the health care happenings and all the public interest happenings. And thanks so much for your activism.

Onward,
Lenny Dee
Onward Oregon

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2007 at 6:24 pm and is filed under Equal/Civil Rights, General, Health Care. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.