|
Physicians in our nation are facing a
crisis, Brady explains. It's a medical liability insurance crisis.
Insurance companies are leaving the market of selling liability
insurance, and it's wreaking havoc in the health care community. And
the problem is not limited to physicians. Hospital emergency
departments, trauma centers, obstetrical units and other high-risk
providers are in jeopardy of closing because neither the doctors nor
the hospitals can afford the insurance necessary to stay open. And
the real victims of this crisis are the citizens of Illinois.
"Many trauma centers have already
ceased operations across the state and more are considering that
option," Pliura said. "Physicians are refusing to provide high-risk
procedures in fields like neurosurgery, orthopedics, obstetrics and
cardiovascular surgery. The problem affects every person in the
state, whether they know it or not.
"All involved groups, including health
care providers, the legal profession, insurance companies and
citizens' groups need to sit down with lawmakers and work
collectively to resolve this problem. It is in everyone's best
interest."
Brady proposes an amendment to the Good
Samaritan Act, which is expected to be included on Senate Bill 1161.
Currently, physicians who provide emergency care without a fee are
exempt from liability under the act. As amended, Senate Bill 1161
will formally extend the liability exemption to physicians who
provide emergency services to victims of trauma at designated trauma
centers. There is no requirement that care must be provided without
a fee to obtain the exemption.
In a nutshell, if you are a physician
who treats a trauma patient at a designated trauma center, then you
and the hospital will be exempt from liability for claims of
negligence, absent a showing of willful and wanton misconduct.
Senate Bill 1161 will give physicians immediate relief and give
everyone more time to come up with a viable solution to this
problem.
[to top of second column in
this article] |
Another bill that Brady is sponsoring,
Senate Bill 1159, will allow patients and physicians to voluntarily
enter into agreements that restrict economic damages in excess of
$500,000 or limit noneconomic damages awarded for subjective issues
like pain and suffering, if they choose.
Such an agreement will allow patients
to lower their overall health care costs. These agreements will
result in lower health care costs for patients by decreasing the
incidence and frequency of unnecessary tests due to defensive
medicine.
Malpractice rally television coverage
The Illinois Channel is providing
coverage on the doctors' malpractice rally. It will air on Channel
20 in Bloomington on March 5, 7 and 9. It will also air on Channel
22 in Springfield on March 3, 5 and 9, at 5 and 9 p.m. Please direct
your comments on this programming to the following e-mail address:
Illinoischannel@aol.com.
Brady
interviewed for Time magazine cover story
Time
magazine reporter Maggie Sieger of Chicago interviewed Brady on Feb.
26 for a cover story about medical malpractice. The magazine plans
to run the story in about two weeks -- unless international events
escalate. Watch for this article, which will provide national
coverage of what we are doing in Illinois to address the medical
liability insurance crisis!
[News
release] |
|
Less than expected revenues will force
lawmakers to make tough decisions on both the fiscal 2003 and fiscal
2004 budgets.
In January, Senate Republicans offered
a plan to make immediate spending reductions in the current budget
year, while giving the governor more time to work on fiscal 2004. On
Feb. 25, Blagojevich unveiled a similar plan to make immediate cuts
in fiscal 2003. Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson, R-Greenville,
said, "Making cuts where we can now will
put us in a better position when it comes to preparing the fiscal
year 2004 budget."
Blagojevich also offered a plan to
issue up to $10 billion in general obligation bonds and refinance
the pension debt. Proceeds would be used to fill a portion of the
state's budget hole. Senate Republicans are remaining neutral on
this plan until the governor offers more details, but the senators
recognize it could help significantly reduce the budget hole.
Senate Republicans led the path toward
reforming the weakened pension systems in 1996, after heavy
borrowing in the 1980s had put the solvency of the systems at risk.
Republican lawmakers will insist the governor's plan maintain the
stability of the pension funds.
A new bipartisan ethics plan was
unveiled Feb. 27 by lawmakers. Senate Bill 1871 and House Bill 3046
would create two ethics commissions to advise state officials and
employees on proper ethical conduct. The bills would also provide
more stringent oversight of state employees working on political
campaigns and would ban contributions to campaigns by employees of
that office.
In other business, the highly
controversial Senate Bill 101 gained approval in a Senate committee
on a partisan roll call. Senate Bill 101 affords special protection
to homosexuals. Liberal Senate Democrats advanced the bill, but the
future of the legislation is still unclear as three of the Democrats
on the committee said they would not support passage of the
legislation on the Senate floor.
The following bills are also among
those approved by Senate committees this week:
Equal pay (SB 2) --
Prohibits wage discrimination based on gender. The measure was
approved unanimously in committee.
Boy Scout license plates (SB 258) --
Authorizes Boy Scout license plates to benefit the Boy Scouts of
America.
Nurses (SB 78) --
Requires that licensing requirements for nurses be available in both
Spanish and English on the Web and changes licensing requirements
for nurses seeking licenses by endorsement.
In other committee action, Senate
Republicans opposed a tax amnesty bill (Senate Bill 18) that lets
deadbeat taxpayers off the hook for fines and late fees when they
pay their back taxes. Because this is money the state will
eventually collect anyway, the lawmakers opposed the bill, refusing
to reward deadbeats for not paying their taxes on time.
The Senate Executive Appointments
Committee unanimously passed several of Gov. Blagojevich's choices
to lead state departments. Those motions were also approved by the
full Senate. The governor chose not to proceed with several more
controversial appointments that may have met with opposition in the
Senate.
Of the 539 bills assigned to
committees, 85 were Republican-sponsored measures. The following
bills are among those assigned to Senate committees:
Personal security (SB 1148) --
Eliminates state-funded security protection for former
constitutional officers.
Sexual assault (SB 406) --
Clarifies that a person can withdraw consent to sexual activity, so
that "no" always means "no."
Sex offenders (SB 641) --
Requires apartment and condominium managers to post notices when a
sex offender moves into the building.
[to top of second column in
this article] |
State bills (SB 226) --
Requires the state to pay late fees if a vendor is forced to borrow
money because the state did not pay its bills on time.
Property taxes (SB 270) --
Extends the time period homeowners have to file an objection to
their property tax bill.
Wine Council (SB 336) --
Extends funding for the Illinois Grape & Wine Resource Council.
New teachers (SB 346) --
Requires schools to develop mentoring programs for new teachers.
Traffic stops (SB 353) --
Provides for a study on discrimination by law enforcement. Requires
officers to record the race of a motorist stopped, whether they
searched the vehicle or passenger, and resulting legal action.
Teachers' retirement (SB 599) --
Allows Chicago teachers to buy up
to two years' credit for employment by a private school.
Mental health parity (SB 601) --
Provides insurance parity for eating disorders and post-traumatic
stress disorder.
School funding (SB 604) --
Increases funding school districts receive from income taxes.
Drug paraphernalia (SB 642) --
Makes homemade drug paraphernalia illegal.
Public pensions (SB 892) --
Limits public pension annuities to no more than $75,000 per year.
Child abuse (SB 893) --
Eliminates the statute of limitations for reporting sex offenses
against children younger than 18 years old and requires clergy to
report confessions by other clergy.
Clergy confessions (SB 1339) --
Protects the confessions of clergy made to clergy as privileged
religious communications.
High school requirements (SB 1124) --
Requires high school students to take at least one class in
parenting and family education before they graduate, beginning in
the 2006-2007 school year.
American flag (SB 1147) --
Prohibits condominium or homeowners associations from prohibiting
the display of the American flag or the installation of a flagpole
to display it.
Bad checks (SB 1338) --
Allows state's attorneys to create bad check diversion programs as
an alternative to prosecution for offenders who agree to complete
the program instead.
Insanity defense (SB 1342) --
Requires offenders found not guilty by reason of insanity for murder
charges to receive inpatient treatment.
Tuition tax exemptions (SB 1344) --
Allows a state income tax deduction for contributions to college
savings programs administered by other states if that state allows a
deduction for contributions to Illinois' tuition programs.
Charity license plates (SB 1362) --
Creates universal charitable organization license plates with
proceeds benefiting various organizations throughout Illinois.
Energy efficiency (SB 1380) --
Sets minimum energy efficiency standards for products such as
ceiling fans and cable boxes sold in Illinois. Setting these limits
is expected to save government, businesses and consumers $1.7
billion by 2030.
Seniors tax credit (SB 1446) --
Gives taxpayers who live in senior citizen communities an income tax
credit equal to 50 percent of the property taxes paid to school
districts.
State debt (SB 1449) --
Sells state debt to private companies for collection.
Death penalty (SB 1445)
-- Makes reforms to the death penalty system regarding perjured
testimony, public defenders, nonelectronic confessions and mentally
ill defendants.
Unlicensed
drivers (SB 1581) -- Seizes
the vehicle of unlicensed, uninsured drivers who cause death or
personal injury to another person while driving.
[News
release] |
|
Clark,
an attorney with 18 years of legal experience, is a recognized
authority on state insurance law regulations. Prior to establishing
his own private practice, he served as counsel for Montgomery Ward
Life Insurance for 10 years.
“Part of
my effort to reform our state government is to bring in accomplished
professionals, like Mr. Clark, from the private sector who have
expertise and experience to make our system work better,” the
governor said. “Mr. Clark's background in insurance law and his
extensive civic involvement will be a tremendous asset to state
government in general, and the Department of Insurance in
particular.”
[to top of second column in
this article] |
Clark is
a member of the board of directors of the Cook County Bar
Association. Previously, he served on the board of the Center for
Conflict Resolution and was president of the board for the Society
of Samaritans, a suicide prevention agency. He was awarded a
distinguished service award for his service with the Chicago
Volunteer Legal Services and earned the Cook County Bar
Association's Presidential award.
Clark
graduated cum laude with a degree in journalism from Hampton
Institute, the same Virginia school from which Booker T. Washington
graduated in 1875. After working as a reporter for the Evanston
Review and Time Magazine, Clark earned a law degree from the
University of Chicago and a master's degree in labor relations from
Cornell University.
[Illinois
Government News Network
press release] |
