An effort to protect doctors from large punitive damage awards in medical malpractice suits has been stopped in the state senate.

The state supreme court has ruled the state’s previous caps on non-economic damages violate the constitution.   Doctors had been hoping the legislature would pass a new law this year saying they could not be hit with punitive damages greater than $350,000. 

But eight hours of stalling debate left sponsor Dan Brown of Rolla without a vote. One senator opposing Brown’s limits complained the legislation was protecting everyone but the malpractice victim.  In the end, Brown and opponents could not agree on a limit amount. 

Although he hopes to continue negotiations to salvage the bill this year, he admits his chances are limited in the time left—and that means doctors are vulnerable.  “You can sue him for any amount of money,” he says. “The sky’s the limit.”

Brown fears doctors and insurance companies will leave the state, as they were doing before tort reform passed in 2005.  He says the damage limits imposed then quadrupled the number of malpractice insurance companies providing coverage, and increased numbers of doctors here.

An alternative proposal to establish a state pool that would pay punitive damage claims above $350,000 was voted down. 

AUDIO: Brown interview 9:14

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis has found a link in a bacterial condition in women that can contribute to preterm birth, and sexually transmitted diseases. Research instructor Warren Lewis says bacterial vaginosis affects one in every three women, and some may not be aware they have it.

He says it’s more common than a yeast infection, and often does not cause significant symptoms. “What we looked at specifically are the formation of clue cells,” Lewis says. “Those cells are formed when the bacteria go and stick to the epithelial cells, so the surface of the interior of the vagina has these surface cells and bacteria will go and stick to them.”

Warren says however, he’s uncertain of where the bacteria stems from or what species of bacteria actually causes the condition. “There’s quite a bit of controversy in the field about what species, or what bacterial organisms are causing the symptoms,” he said.

New research suggests that an organism called “Gardnerella vaginalis” is likely to be the cause, though not for certain. Gardnerella vaginalis is commonly found in the vaginal fluids of women with bacterial vaginosis and even in some women who don’t have the condition.

AUDIO: Mary Farucci reports. (1:04)