Medical practice bill not voted on

A bill excluding Kansas physicians and other health professionals from the state's consumer protection law may become a legislative fatality.

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed Thursday on an opportunity to vote on a House bill drafted after the Kansas Supreme Court ruled deceptive acts and practices of medical professionals fell under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act.

Physicians, nurses, veterinarians, anesthesiologists, pharmacists and radiologists had reacted to the Supreme Court's decision by insisting the Legislature approve a statute nullifying it .

Opposition for the House bill had surfaced from the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association, Attorney General Paul Morrison and AARP of Kansas.

"We ran out of time," said Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, and chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

His committee met Thursday for the final time in the 2007 session, but the health industry exemption could be amended to other legislation before adjournment in April.

Another option, Vratil said, would be to refer the issue to an interim legislative committee. That panel's report would be due before the start of the 2008 session in January.

Jerry Slaughter, executive director of the Kansas Medical Society, said legislators need to declare the exemption clearly in state law.

Otherwise, he said, plaintiffs will file consumer protection claims in addition to medical malpractice lawsuits.

"It will raise the cost of defense and interject a new element into an already difficult situation," he said.

The Supreme Court ruling stems from the case of a Parker woman who sued an orthopedic surgeon in 1999. Two surgeries on Tracy Williamson by Dr. Jacob Amrani, formerly of Wichita, were supposed to relieve her back pain. Amrani told her the procedure was highly likely to succeed when it actually hadn't worked in a majority of cases in which he had performed the procedure. Her medical condition deteriorated after the operations.

The Supreme Court found Williamson could bring a claim under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act related to Amrani's conduct in providing treatment.

Callie Hartle, spokeswoman for the Kansas Trial Lawyers Association, said the House bill was flawed because it "would create the broadest exemption to a consumer protection act of any state in the nation with regard to the health care industry."

Passage of the bill will trigger a landslide of pleas from other professions or industries for an exemption, she said.

"We'll have a consumer protection act that is Swiss cheese," she said.