By By Buddy Bynum / editor
Sept. 15, 2002
As I begin to write this, the outcome of the Ole Miss-Texas Tech football game is in doubt. It is halftime, Ole Miss trailing 28-7, and one can only imagine what the Rebels' coaches are telling their players in the locker room.
It has not been a good first half for Ole Miss. Mental errors will lose against an inspired opponent almost every time no matter the skills and abilities of individual players. Football is a team sport.
Making laws should be something of a team sport, too. In the case of the special session of the Mississippi Legislature entering its 11th day today the full team has seen little action. Six members of a conference committee hold all of the power and are running the plays called by the Legislature's two coaches Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck and House Speaker Tim Ford, D-Baldwyn.
Each coach has a strategy. Each coach has key players on whom to call. Each coach has a mission and the competition is keen.
Competition?
Yes, the Mississippi House and Senate are in competition. Each house has three players on the field. They all get one vote and if they come out of conference today or one day next week with something to report, a new set of rules will apply.
Conference reports are different from regular pieces of legislation. They can not be amended on the floor. Members of the Legislature have three choices vote yes, vote no, vote to send the report back to the committee from which it came.
But before a conference report can even reach the floor, at least two House conferees and two Senate conferees must endorse it. Would any of these guys endorse a bill with which they adamantly disagree?
On Friday, a summary of the Senate's side of the equation listed 10 major points, and nine of them make good sense to me. It would limit venue in civil actions to the county where the cause of action occurred. Absent negligence, physicians would have immunity in civil actions alleging damages caused by prescription drugs.
The Senate proposes to provide immunity from liability to physicians and nurse practitioners who provide health services at schools and provide that health care practitioners are only liable for the percentage of their fault.
The Senate side would impose a cap on non-economic damages in malpractice actions of $500,000, with an "escape clause" offering a $1 million cap if a judge finds special circumstances, as defined. There would be no cap in cases on gross malpractice.
But the creation of a medical malpractice insurance pool backed by state bonds called the Mississippi Care Authority smacks of unnecessary big government. The idea was proposed by Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and represents a traditional moderate Democratic approach. The pool is a step too far.
Mississippi doesn't need another "authority." It needs fewer frivolous lawsuits. Mississippi doesn't need another government program. The state needs to set common sense parameters in an out-of-whack civil justice system and then get out of the way and let the health care network and other businesses do their jobs.
Senators on the medical malpractice conference committee should stick to their guns on this.
Ole Miss has scored early in the third quarter of the game against Texas Tech. While the team is still behind, there is still hope as long as time remains on the clock.
Maybe this week we will find out whether general civil justice reform gets to the playing field in the Mississippi Legislature, and whether the whole team will get to play while the game is still going on. Or, maybe the coaches will just pull their teams from the field, pick up the ball, turn out the lights and declare the party over.
Uh, oh. Texas Tech just scored again.
But so did Ole Miss.
There is still time.