Increasing medical insurance costs in Illinois have forced many doctors out of state or into retirement, leaving the state with 12 percent fewer doctors than the national average.

Ken Printen, president of the Illinois State Medical Society, noted that this trend will continue until a bill is passed that would put a cap on non-economic damage awards given by juries in medical malpractice cases.

“Ultimately, we’d like a bill that has caps on non-economic damage awards. We’ve kind of modeled ours after the one California uses, which has a cap of $250,000,” Printen said.

Proposed last spring, House Bill 7278 would put a $500,000 cap on non-economic jury awards such as pain and suffering, but it has yet to move past the house.

If passed as written, the bill would guarantee that a victim be paid the equivalent of the amount of work he or she misses plus medical costs, even if the victim is unable to work for the rest of his or her life. If the victim is unemployed, a minimum wage would be paid.

“The only thing not being paid as much is [the victim’s] pain and suffering, since it is not objective. We need to get a handle on that and get a cap on those damages,” Printen said.

He said the caps are meant to slow the amount of malpractice cases without deterring victims from going forward with their lawsuits.

This is a problem because the cost of insurance for practicing is enormous due to the large sums of money being awarded in malpractice cases, Printen said.

“Doctors are retiring early or moving somewhere where they can make more money. I’ve had a lot of people asking why so many Illinois doctors are working in Wisconsin, and it’s because they have a cap system there.”

Printen stated that most of the support for the bill is coming from Republicans and downstate Democrats, since southern Illinois is in need of more doctors than other areas of the state. He said there needs to be more support for the bill to pass.

“It won’t pass with the present makeup of the legislature,” Printen remarked. “It’s going to depend on this election. It’s going to be a fight for certain people to get into office.”

One person on his side is Illinois State Representative Bob Pritchard, R-Hinckley.

“We introduced several bills [to the House] this spring, but [House Speaker Michael Madigan] chose not to move on them. It’s very unlikely for these kind of bills to move,” Pritchard said.

The Illinois Trial Lawyers Association has opposed such a bill, noting that caps have been rejected and deemed unconstitutional twice by the Illinois Supreme Court.

Still, Pritchard said it is a shame to see good doctors who have been practicing in Illinois all of their life being forced to move out of state or retire.

“I know a doctor from a small hospital who had been doing births for several years. He eventually had to stop. The (insurance) rates just keep getting higher,” Pritchard said. “We need to do something to keep doctors here.”