I favor cracking down on frivolous lawsuits and the lawyers who file them. However, I am deeply disappointed that the House Republican leadership prohibited consideration of my amendment, which specified that the $250,000 malpractice lawsuit limitation on noneconomic damages would not apply in cases of gross negligence.

When Linda McDougal recently had an unnecessary double mastectomy after the doctor read the wrong x-rays, or when one-year-old Jeanella Aranda tragically and needlessly died in Dallas last August after her liver transplant team mistakenly implanted a liver with an incompatible blood type, no federal law should protect those negligent actions. In such cases, a jury of peers rather than politicians in Washington, D.C. should decide how to hold the negligent parties responsible.

The goal of this bill should be to protect the vast majority of capable, competent doctors from being harassed by frivolous lawsuits rather than protecting the few unqualified physicians and health care manufacturers who drive up health care costs through their own negligence. I also hope insurance companies will end their opposition to reducing health care premiums if this bill becomes law. Insurance companies cannot have it both ways, claiming that lawsuits are driving up insurance premiums, but refusing to reduce rates if the malpractice lawsuit caps are passed into law.

The Texas Legislature is considering this issue right now. It might make more sense to let them determine what works for Texas rather than dictating state law from Washington, DC.