Dear editor: 

While the editorial board may be pleased that the Supreme Court tossed out a modest and bi-partisan liability reform (“Washington court throws out medical malpractice law”), there are many people who are not.  And those people are patients who care about the cost of the healthcare system. 

The Supreme Court dismantled a simple, commonsense reform agreed upon by physicians, trial lawyers, Gov. Gregorie and a majority of the legislature in 2006. 

The issue at hand is the certificate of merit, which requires that a plaintiff provide a qualified expert at the time of filing a lawsuit that states there is a reasonable probability the defendant’s conduct did not meet the required standard of care. 

In the 2006 legislative session, trial lawyers and physicians negotiated several modest liability reform measures, one of which was the certificate of merit.  Over the past three years these reforms have incrementally aided in the fight to end lawsuit abuse in the medical liability arena. 

It’s interesting to note that certificate of merit statutes have been upheld in other states but the Washington Supreme Court opted to come down on the side of more lawsuits to be filed more easily. 

Dana Childers
Executive Director
Liability Reform Coalition
2033 6th Avenue, Suite 1100
Seattle, WA  98121
425-868-2698 office
206-953-0342 cell
dana@walrc.org