Ill.’s Gov. Blagojevich Appoints Ex-Judge to Mediate Med-Mal Negotiations

After months of partisan and special interest stalemate over medical malpractice reform in the Illinois General Assembly, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has appointed a former judge and hospital lawyer to mediate ongoing negotiations.

The Democratic Blagojevich named Donald P. O’Connell, a former Cook County Circuit Court chief judge and currently special counsel for the University of Illinois Hospitals, as the mediator to try to hammer out some kind of compromise that can gain passage in the Democratic-led legislature. Blagojevich said in a statement that he had gained support for resumed negotiations from all the groups involved in discussions.

“The exorbitant cost of medical malpractice insurance has become a serious burden on doctors in Illinois, and in the long run, patients are paying the cost,” Blagojevich said in the statement. “We see medical rates going up and access to medical services in some regions of the state going down as doctors leave Illinois. There isn’t an easy fix to the situation—as we witnessed during the long and heated negotiations this spring. But we can’t let the challenge of finding common ground stand in the way of relief for patients.”

Doctors and insurers have pushed for caps on pain and suffering awards in malpractice cases but no bill with such a cap was ever allowed for a vote in legislature. Trial lawyers have put forth a suite of proposals attempting to curb frivolous lawsuits and target bad doctors but stopping well short of any award caps. A bill giving the insurance department the power to cap rates, which would represent a break from Illinois’ competitive rating regime, was also floated but did not get anywhere.

No compromise was forthcoming during extended spring session negotiations, and observers have speculated that both Democrats and Republicans wanted to keep the issue on the table for the electoral season to keep the special-interest donations rolling in. Illinois has no limits on individual or corporate campaign giving. A race for Supreme Court justiceship, in particular, has drawn the interest of insurers looking for more favorable rulings on tort reform among other issues.

O’Connell has served as special counsel to the University of Illinois hospital system since 2001, advising executives on medical negligence issues. He will complete his service with the U of I this month. In addition, he conducts private mediations in catastrophic injury, wrongful death and commercial cases, and continues to conduct conferences on successful mediation techniques and strategies in complex areas like medical malpractice.

From December 1994 to August 2001, O’Connell served as chief judge of the Cook County Circuit Court, where he is credited with restoring public confidence to a court that had been embroiled in scandal during the federal Operation Greylord investigation and trials in the 1980s. O’Connell hired a former FBI agent to look out for corruption, a special task force recommendation that had been made—but not fulfilled—several years earlier. O’Connell also established a professional development and mentoring program to help orient new judges.

Topics Legislation Illinois