By Jim Siegel
Gannett Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - A bill limiting what patients or their families can collect in malpractice lawsuits could be voted out of the Ohio Senate as early as this week.

Hearings on a bill that would cap pain-and-suffering awards in malpractice cases at $300,000 started up again Tuesday, the first day back for lawmakers since late spring.

Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale, said the bill is scheduled for a vote Thursday, but he would not offer any predictions on the likelihood of that happening.

To get things moving in the House, Rep. Tim Grendell, R-Chesterland, is expected to introduce an identical bill today.

While there has been some opposition in the House, Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glendford, said Tuesday he doesn't see any major obstacles to passing the bill, which Gov. Bob Taft wants on his desk by the end of the year.

Ohio doctors see the bill as relief from skyrocketing insurance premiums.

The issue of malpractice reform permeated the recent campaigns for two seats on the Supreme Court. The Ohio State Medical Association encouraged doctors to vote for the GOP candidates for the court. They are hoping the candidates, both elected Nov. 5, will uphold any legislation that limits damage awards. In 1999 the court overturned similar legislation.

"I don't think there is any reason why we can't (pass the legislation)," said Sen. Jay Hottinger, R-Newark, a member of the Senate committee hearing the bill. "We know what the issues are, and that is not going to change."

At a Senate committee Tuesday, doctors, lawyers and insurance representatives argued whether caps would have affect insurance premiums.

Lawrence Smarr, president of the Physician Insurers Association of America, told the committee that 70 percent of malpractice cases are dismissed, and of those that go to trial, doctors win 80 percent of the time.

But this "wasteful system" costs insurers tens of thousands of dollars in legal expenses, regardless of whether a case is won or lost, he said.

He said "runaway" jury awards "are drawing the system to the brink."

Meanwhile, Stephen Chappelear, president of the Ohio State Bar Association, urged lawmakers not to rush to action. He questioned whether any statistics link jury awards to the recent spike in insurance premiums.

John Lancione, a Cleveland malpractice attorney, held up an X-ray of a client's stomach, clearly showing the hemostat - a clamp-like surgical tool - left inside him after an operation.

He said the bill shifts the burden from responsible physicians to innocent victims.

But without the bill, physicians will be forced to abandon their practices, said Brian Batchelder, a Mount Gilead physician and president of the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians.