Some ballot initiatives can be a bit a dull and sometimes seemingly one-sided. A city wants a new fire truck, or some local municipality needs a new library. With statewide initiatives, however, the proverbial stakes are much higher. That’s particularly the case with two pressing initiatives on the ballot this fall, I-336 and I-330, both having to do with medical malpractice.

My fellow blogger Natasha has made a fine case for I-336 and against I-330, backing up her points with some savvy arguments and supporting details. I agree with her on one point, but not on the other.

Let me explain.

All good debates should have at least one counterpoint, and I’ll endeavor to present an alternative to Natasha’s reasoning, articulate though it may be. This is especially important considering the vast sums of money, into the millions of dollars, that have been spent and will continue to be spent on this very heated political battle.

First, let’s look at who’s thrown their political weight behind what. The Washington State Trial Lawyers Association (http://www.wstla.org/) hates the idea of putting a cap of $350,000 on pain and suffering awards in cases where doctors have been accused of injuring patients through malpractice. The reason is obvious: fewer trials plus less money equals a less lucrative environment for trial lawyers to operate in.

That being said, I’m sure there are many good and honest trial lawyers who work hard on behalf of clients who have been genuinely injured by malevolent doctors (and no, lawyers are not evil!). But by and large, the reality is that the fear of lawsuits is forcing doctors to leave states around the country, including ours.

So, the question comes down to, you guessed it, another question: do you want fewers doctors or fewer trial lawyers in our state?

The Washington State Medical Association (http://www.wsma.org/) thinks I-330 is a good idea, and that in and of itself should at least warrant some attention as to why. This august organization represents more than 9,000 Washington state doctors, and wants to get I-330 approved so that physicians don’t have to work under a menacing cloud of litigation (http://www.yesoni330.org/aboutWhy.html), watching their collective backs half the time.

Here: a doctor-blogger wrangles over the issue.

Now, I disagree with the WSMA that I-336 is a bad idea. It seems to make perfect sense to me. Revoking the licenses of repeat offenders (those with three jury verdicts against them in 10 years and outlawing “secrecy agreements” in medical malpractice lawsuits), as Natasha points out, is a good idea. She’s wrong in her opposition to I-330 though. Let’s send the right message to our state’s honest doctors and not-so-honest trial lawyers, making it clear that we want them to stay and back off, respectively.

It might be easy to leap to conclusions, but let’s just make sure we give both sides a fair shake (and not a milkshake, for that matter), on this issue.

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