SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Legal Newsline) - California's medical professional community is banding together and even capitalizing on social media to ensure an initiative to repeal the state's landmark Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act fails.
On May 15, a ballot initiative aimed at repealing MICRA, which currently caps non-economic damages at $250,000, qualified for the ballot.
If passed, Proposition 46 would quadruple the current cap on medical liability lawsuits to $1.1 million, with annual increases going forward.
In response, Vote NO on 46 was formed, a coalition of hundreds of Golden State medical organizations and professionals, plus a few legal watchdog groups such as the Civil Justice Association of California and California Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.
To help spread the message, the collation created a Twitter account (@NoOn46) on June 24.
Since venturing into the world of social media, the group has unleashed a fury of tweets centered on the consequences of passing the measure.
For example, the group asserts on Twitter that Prop 46 will raise health care costs for a family of four by $1,000, cause people to lose trust in their physicians and increase health care costs by $9.9 billion annually.
Vote NO on 46 is contrasted on Twitter by Stop MICRA! (@StopMICRA) - an account created by an anti-MICRA group that argues the $250,000 cap prevents people from attracting a lawyer to take their case and file a lawsuit.
Stop MICRA! tweets center around the personal story of medical negligence victims who believe the were unfairly compensated for their pain and suffering.
The group also links several articles supporting doctor drug testing and a prescription database - the second element of Prop 46.
Reach David Yates at elections@legalnewsline.com
Calif. group dedicated to stopping repeal of MICRA forms
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