Voters turned down Initiatives 330 and 336, ending what has been the biggest campaign in Washington state history. In the past two years, $8 million was spent on the I-330 campaign alone-perhaps to the chagrin of the campaigners, the voters appeared to be nearly apathetic. Results were fairly close, with only 52.31% of candidates voting against I-330, and a somewhat larger scale of 57.91% against I-336. However, these results are still clear and valid, and will prove beneficial to potential patients, malpractice victims, and their lawyers throughout the state of Washington.
I-330 would have proven detrimental to the community as its cap of $350,000 and malpractice doctor protection policy would have allowed the continuation of malpractice incidents in incompetent doctors, as well as making it difficult for victims to obtain a good lawyer.
The loss of I-336 is not so much of a blow, with I-330 out of the way. It was initially only a counterstrike to Initiative 330: it proffered that physicians with three malpractice verdicts have their licenses revoked. Yes, it would have been good for the community to have passed the initiative, but because the fear of malpractice secrecy has now been abated by the denial of I-330, there is less of a need for it.
