Tort reform works
San Antonio Express-News
September 29, 2009
Re: “Did tort reform work?” (Letters, Sept. 16):
Yes. More than 800 doctors have come to practice in Bexar County since reforms were passed in 2003. This has created opportunities for 1.3 million more patient visits per year with a direct economic impact of $204 million in our community.
Additions to the local health care community include 92 anesthesiologists, 79 internists, 79 family medicine doctors and 48 emergency medicine physicians. They have added 44 pediatric specialists, 40 pediatricians, 27 cardiologists, 20 orthopedic surgeons, 19 gastroenterologists and 18 oncologists.
Reforms have helped senior citizens as the number of geriatrician specialists has doubled in the last seven years. The poor are primary beneficiaries of these legal reforms. The emergency rooms are better staffed and the liability savings have permitted hospitals to render more than twice as much charity care than they did prior.
Chip Hough, Managing Partner,
Basic Industries of South Texas
Copyright
2010