The purpose of this website is to expose the truth about insurance abuse in Texas and about Texas Medical Liability Trust, in particular. We also advocate here for the political, statutory, and regulatory changes necessary to stop these kinds of abuses. We simply provide the information and you decide the answers to these questions - and perhaps more. We feel this information is something that everybody has a right to know: patients and their families, ethical physicians looking for legitimate liability protection, healthcare consumers, government regulators, and members of the Texas legislature.
Before we go any further, you might want to know what the problem is. In a nutshell it is this. Many believe the evidence found in these pages shows that Texas Medical Liability Trust has not only gone well beyond the limited boundaries that the Texas legislature established for it, but that TMLT as a major provider of insurance to Texas physicians has been gaming the medical liability justice system by controlling the testimony that injured patients are required to have before they can come into court. It is alleged that TMLT does this by coercing TMLT insured physicians who have treated injured patients or who have agreed to be an expert witness consultant for an injured patient into withholding their opinions, changing their opinions, or simply refusing to cooperate with the injured patient. It has been alleged that TMLT does this by contacting these physicians without the consent of the patient or the court and threatening the physicians with loss of their insurance coverage or renewing at extremely high rates. As the cost of medical liability insurance can be high and difficult to obtain, there are some who think this is an effective tactic. For TMLT, if the patient cannot provide medical experts willing to speak the truth about negligent healthcare then the case must be thrown out by the court and TMLT gets to keep lots and lots of money that should have been paid out for legitimate provable claims.
There are some who think this violates the Texas Penal Code prohibition against Witness Tampering and/or Commercial Bribery. There are some who claim that TMLT does this as a matter of usual and customary business practice and gets away with it because TMLT can hide behind the attorney-client privilege and dare any judge to hold them accountable. There are some who think it just stinks and is unfair.
When you review the evidence, you can decide for yourself.