Tort reform in, doctors out

From Tortdeform comes the news that, following the Texas legislature’s 2003 sweeping tort reforms “designed to greatly reduce the frequency of medical malpractice lawsuits, the size of malpractice payments, and physicians’ insurance premiums,” the number of Texas physicians applications granted has actually decreased.

I’m not sure this is a news piece worthy of crowing about, but if it shows anything, it is that tort reform really doesn’t have much to do with the quality of healthcare. If anything, it looks like the quality of physicians applying for licenses in Texas has actually decreased. Or else Texas licensing requirements skyrocketed (unlikely).