June/July 2001

Battle Brews Over Patients' Bill of Rights

New York - A recent ABCNEWS/Washington Post poll asked whether it should be easier for patients to sue health-care providers.

The poll, conducted last month among a random national sample of 1,004 adults, finds the public split on the issue. As Congress moves closer to a debate on patients' rights, Americans are sharply divided on the issue. The poll finds 44% of the public favors a law making it easier for patients in managed care to sue their health-care providers. Slightly more, 49%, oppose such a law, saying it would increase the cost of healthcare too much.

The so-called Patients' Bill of Rights would allow patients to sue health plans in federal or state court for up to $5 million in damages. President Bush favors a competing bill in the Senate that's more limited in its scope; it would permit lawsuits only in federal court and put a $500,000 cap on damages. The new bill President Bush endorsed is currently being attacked in Congress.

Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga, said Bush's bill "not only fails to provide adequate protection against HMO abuses, but in some instances it will actually increase the ability of managed care to deny coverage, cause injury and death and avoid even existing legal responsibility."

However, the President has argued the bill "provides strong patient protections for all Americans, ensures that doctors and patients make medical decisions and holds health plans accountable for providing patients with meaningful remedies when they have been wrongly denied medical care."

Sources: ABCNEWS and Reuters Health

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