Health Tort Reform - Conservative?

This is my attempt to catch up to the 29 comments that were on the last post. Rich asked for comments from Devin and me on tort reform. There was some good discussion.

Tort reform is one area where party politics takes, perhaps, a different path than political philosophy.

Republicans like the idea of tort reform. Democrats don't. The plaintiff bar is squarely on the side of Democrats as evidenced by the money they contribute to that party. The defense industry is in the Republican camp. Plaintiff's lawyers and malpractice insurers need each other in order to keep dragging in the huge fees and monster premiums that each side keeps as a reward and shares with the political party that favors them in the never-ending game.

But what about conservatives and liberals? What about libertarianism in the tort-reform debate? For instance, one of the more popular methods of tort reform (and one that has been in place in Utah for several years) is a cap on awards, coupled with a sharing of the spoils with the State. Over a certain level, punitive damages go half to the State, then all to the State after another ceiling is reached. Doesn't sound very conservative to me. Should a doctor be held individually to account, monetarily, for the damage that doctor does to a patient when the standard of care is breached (sounds conservative / libertarian to me), or should a fixed dollar amount be handed out to anyone who can show themselves injured by any healthcare provider in the system?

It is amazing how quickly philosophical consistency is tossed to the side when a short-term opportunity to score points or defend the ball presents itself in the party ballgame. I would be interested to hear how y'all perceive tort reform on a philosophical spectrum, and whether you think philosophical consistency should, in this case, be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. (Can you tell how I feel by the way I asked the question?)