President's Page September 2003

Robert W. Haley, MD

Battle Cry "21 for 12!"
Physicians working to turn out the vote for Proposition 12

Battle weary from the victorious fight over medical liability reform in the legislative session, Texas physicians again are being mustered for the final decisive battle that will establish the $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages once and for all.

On Sept 13 Texans will vote on 22 propositions to amend the state constitution. Proposition 12 renders the new $250,000 cap bullet-proof from certain trial-lawyer challenge. Passage of Proposition 12 would remove uncertainty over the constitutionality of the legislative cap and allow medical liability insurance premiums to begin stabilizing, and possibly dropping, immediately. Failure to pass Proposition 12 would invite protracted litigation that would sustain the spiraling premiums for several more years.

As you would guess, the major trial-lawyer firms, fat from years of milking physicians with high jury awards from frivolous lawsuits, have amassed a huge war chest, with quarter-million-dollar contributions per firm. For more than a month, they have been mailing slick brochures and pounding the air waves with misinformation ads. Their message is that the cap is an abridgment of rights by evil insurance companies to enrich their executives at the expense of the ordinary citizen, with no mention of how vital the cap is for future patient access to medicine. Although false and misleading, it is a clever ploy designed by high-priced public relations firms and it must be overcome.

DCMS and TMA have developed the strategy and funding to communicate our message through the media. That blitz has begun and is resonating well with voters. Our political strategists tell us, however, that the leadership of individual practicing physicians with their families, office staffs, patients, and friends is needed to prevail. Thus, our call-up orders for the
final battle.

The political equation is that if each physician practicing in Texas brings 21 voters out to the polls on Sept 13, or during early voting through Sept 9, Proposition 12 will carry. So, every physician who wants to bullet-proof the $250,000 cap, stabilize or reduce their medical liability insurance premiums immediately, and safeguard the future of medicine in Texas from lawsuit abuse must bring out 21 voters for the cause—“21 for 12!”

As we march into battle, here are our orders—suggestions for working the grass-roots, the surest way to a win.

1. Talk to your family members, physician colleagues, office staff, hospital staff, neighbors, friends and social contacts, and pharmaceutical representatives about voting “YES on 12.” Use your position of leadership to bring out this surest source of positive voters.

2. Give your office staff time off to vote in the early voting period through Sept 9, when they can vote at any polling place and
avoid waiting.

3. Order a large supply of “YES on 12” materials—posters for your office, yard signs, bumper stickers, lapel stickers, and appointment cards to give your patients, telling them of their appointment to vote on Sept 13. Contact Tracy Casto, DCMS director of public affairs, at 214-948-3622, ext. 227, or Tracy@dallas-cms.org for your supply.

4. Write a “Dear Patient” letter explaining why it is so important to stop healthcare lawsuit abuse and pass Proposition 12, and hand it to patients when they check in or out of the office. Because of HIPAA regulations, don’t mail this to a patient in a bill or other correspondence. TMA has a sample letter at www.texmed.org/liability/12patientletter.asp.

5. Order a supply of TMA’s 8-page brochure, “Stop Healthcare Lawsuit Abuse in Texas!” for your waiting room. E-mail nick.diden@texmed.org or call 800-880-1300, ext. 1357.

6. Use your office phone system’s “on-hold” message to educate callers about the importance of voting “YES on 12.” You can download sample messages from the TMA Web site at www.texmed.org/liability/12hold.asp.

7. Make yourself an appointment to “Vote YES! on 12” on Sept 13 or in the early voting period through Sept 9. Mark it on your calendar.

The physicians of Dallas County fought long and hard to win the $250,000 cap passed by the Legislature. We’re all tired from the recent legislative battle, and it’s tempting to rest behind the lines while our buddies continue the fight. But it all comes down to the vote of the citizens on Sept 13, and we must win.

DCMS and TMA have put together the battle plan and given us our orders. Now it’s up to the hand-to-hand, get-out-the-vote efforts of individual physicians. Huzzah and Hurrah, into the fray!

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