Policy & practice.(Practice Trends)

PLAN B DELAY The Food and Drug Administration has delayed its decision on whether to approve over-the-counter use of Plan B, an emergency contraceptive drug, for 90 days. The original deadline for making the decision was Feb. 20. The delay follows a 23-4 vote by the agency's Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs in favor of converting Plan B to over-the-counter (OTC) status. Groups favoring OTC use were dismayed by the action. "It would be virtually unprecedented and outrageous for the FDA to jeopardize its scientific credibility by ignoring the overwhelming recommendation of its own expert committee that emergency contraception ... be made available over the counter," Kate Michelman, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a statement. Critics of the OTC proposal were pleased. "The FDA is displaying uncharacteristic prudence by taking the time to scientifically study the lasting effects this drug has on women, and to consider the societal effects making such a drug available over the counter to minors might have," said Joseph R. Giganti, spokesman for the American Life League, an antiabortion group.

TORT REFORM Ob.gyns. and other physicians who provide obstetric care may be getting their own medical liability fix this year, if a bill introduced in the Senate last month gains traction. This is the first time that a bill has been introduced that targets relief for only part of the medical profession. The legislation (S. 2061), introduced by Sen. Judd Gregg (R.N.H.) and Sen. John Ensign (R.Nev.), would place a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists praised the legislation for capping noneconomic damages, limiting the number of years a plaintiff has to file a health care liability suit, and limiting punitive damages.

PRESIDENTIAL PUSH President Bush is calling on Congress to enact medical liability reform and drawing praise from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) for doing so. "To protect ...