OLYMPIA -- For the second year in a row, the Washington Senate has approved a sweeping package of lawsuit limits that would protect doctors, governments, builders and big corporations in various legal actions.
Last year, the Republican-backed measure, which includes a cap on pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice cases, died in the Democratic House.
For more than a year, the Liability Reform Coalition has offered the medical profession as the poster child for reining in lawsuits, an effort commonly known as "tort reform."
Doctors argue that big malpractice judgments are driving insurance costs through the roof, forcing doctors to leave the state and leaving patients with less access to health care. Tort reform advocates hoped that message would help carry a sweeping package of changes into law.
"There are some counties in this state where there's no doctors left to deliver babies," Senate Majority Leader Bill Finkbeiner said before Senate Bill 5728 passed 27-22 Tuesday. "We're saying: Here's a solution to a very serious problem that we're having in this state."