Feb. 6--Medical-malpractice claims continue to fall in Ohio, which doctors say is proof that state limits on damages passed in 2003 are having a positive effect.

And it shows that Ohio's setup can serve as a model for the nation in the contentious health-care debate, said Tim Maglione, spokesman for the Ohio State Medical Association.

In 2008, 3,080 closed claims were reported; that was a decline of nearly 40 percent from 2005, according to a report issued this week by the Ohio Department of Insurance.

"We get these trends from these annual reports, and they're all moving in the right direction," Maglione said.

He also noted that malpractice-insurance premiums for doctors have decreased by 22 percent over the past four years, and the number of malpractice-insurance companies in Ohio has grown from a handful to more than 15.

"All of those things are producing a much more stable market, which is obviously helpful for the doctors," he said.

Whether doctors should be protected from malpractice lawsuits was a major point of contention in the national health-care debate; many Republicans insist that such protection should be a major component of any legislation. President Barack Obama has expressed openness to the idea but has noted that the Congressional Budget Office has said it would have a relatively limited impact on health-care costs, saving about $5 billion a year.

The state medical association has suggested to the Ohio congressional delegation that the state should be an example for damage limits, Maglione said. "If you look to Ohio, you probably get a pretty good snapshot of the overall benefits of that," he said.

In 2003, then-Gov. Bob Taft signed a GOP-crafted bill capping noneconomic damages -- pain and suffering -- at $350,000 per plaintiff, or a maximum of $500,000 per occurrence. For catastrophic injuries, the limit is $500,000 per plaintiff up to $1 million per occurrence.

Limits do not apply to awards for economic damages, such as medical payments and lost wages.

Gerry Leeseberg, a Columbus attorney who specializes in malpractice cases, said the drop in cases can be attributed in part to caps on damages, but they aren't a good thing if they deter legitimate lawsuits.

"There is no legitimate basis to argue for capping the damages that can be recovered by somebody that has been grievously injured by malpractice," he said.

"We don't endorse so-called reforms that, under the guise of trying to improve the legal system, do nothing more than deter meritorious claims or limit the amount of recovery injured plaintiffs can get."

The majority of the decrease in claims, Leeseberg said, can be attributed to efforts to minimize the number of lawsuits that lack merit. For example, he said, an "affidavit of merit" was developed in 2007 forcing lawyers to get expert witnesses to vouch for a claim before it is filed.

"That has had a beneficial result in helping to weed out cases that inexperienced lawyers may have filed, which is a great thing," he said.

Of the closed claims in 2008, the Insurance Department reported that 74 percent resulted in no payment to the complainant. In cases in which payments were issued, the average award was $252,522.

Maglione said the 74 percent figure shows that a number of cases still are filed that should not be.

But Leeseberg called it a "very distorted figure," saying that often a lawsuit will be filed against multiple doctors until the attorney can sort out who is truly responsible. So if a suit initially names five doctors but later drops four from the case, it appears that 80 percent of the claims ended with no payment, he said.

Limits on malpractice-lawsuit damages can be credited for some of the decline in medical-liability claims, but it is not the sole reason, said Jarrett Dunbar, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Insurance. The department also thinks that hospitals and doctors are taking more precautions and doing more to remedy situations so they don't lead to lawsuits, he said.

jsiegel@dispatch.com

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