For medical malpractice cases in Virginia, the plaintiff must have 2 experts (Doctors) who will testify to the malpractice and to the fact that the standard of medical care was not met. Its not a wide open spigot that some people think or claim it is. Bringing a medmal case to trial is very expensive for the plaintiff (as it can be for the insurance co's who defend the doctors). Its easy to rack up big bucks with travel, depositions, doctor time, records review, document production, etc. A bad attorney who brings just 1 or 2 of 'frivolous' cases to trial, then loses in trial... ends up eating those costs themselves... not the plaintiff. Plus the amount of time spent working a crappy case is time spent not working a good case. Many states have had medmal caps in place for years. Here in VA there has been a cap in place since the 70s (i believe). There are a few built-in governors to the system. Here in VA, to generalize, the insurers push to go to trial. Insurance co's attorneys are paid by the hour, which can drag out cases that, based on the merits, should be settled before trial.. That too can add to overall litigation costs as well. Generalizing again, the medical profession does a poor job of policing bad doctors. Some inept doctors have been sued time and again for terrible 'care' and the medical boards are quite slow to act. And the public has very little opportunity to familiarize themselves with these incidents. The best source for finding a good doctor is knowing a good medmal attorney. In VA, medmal awards have been on the downward trend for years, as have large awards. Although i do like the "loser pays" idea, i think this topic is more bumpersticker politics that the right periodically flogs. Everyone's malpractice case is frivolous but their own.


>I am surprised to hear that the loser pays was not used in the States before, afaik in Argentina is a long practice (maybe beginning of last century), so much that my father (who was a lawyer and then a judge and the chief-justice (I think that is how is called, the president of the supreme court of several provinces)) told me that there was a lawyer that became filthy rich by exploiting a loop-hole, which then was closed, but too late for this guy) The loop-hole was that if the plaintiff did not had means to pay then the state would pay all his legal fees, which were at that time a percentage of the claim, so this very honest and hardworking lawyer recruited homeless people to make unfunded and millionaire claims against a random company (probably with the company's lawyer colluding with said lawyer), when it was found that there were no grounds for such a claim, the judge would make the homeless person responsible for the fees, and for he couldn't afford it, then the state would pay them for him. Easy money. I do not know about Texas law, but I would try to be certain that a loop-hole like this does not exist, just in case :)
>
>>Loser pays tort reform is the latest reform Texas has enacted to increase
>>http://www.wtaw.com/2011/05/31/perry-signs-tort-reform-bill/
>>
>>Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas state legislature want the rest of the country to hear this message loud and clear: The Lone Star State is open for business.
>>...
>>The Wall Street Journal editorialized, “This Texas upgrade will build on reforms in 2003 and 2005 that have vastly improved the legal climate in what has not coincidentally become the country’s best state for job creation. Texas rewrote everything from class-action certification to product liability” — and I would add the state’s medical-malpractice reforms to that list.
>>
>>http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/268436/loser-pays-texas-small-business-wins-stephen-demaura
>>
>>No wonder the nation’s CEOs list Texas as the best state for business.
>>
>>http://chiefexecutive.net/best-worst-states-for-business
>>
>>"Texas GDP up 3.7% this year"
>>http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2011/05/31/texas-gdp-up-37-this-year-bbva.html