Contact me at markploftus@aol.com

I need to make some comments about "tort reform". The United States Senate was scheduled to vote today on S.2601 which would inflict a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages(read "pain and suffering") for OB/GYN cases. The medical lobby was pushing hard for the bill. In addition to the cap on damages, the bill seeks to place a cap on attorney fees; restrict the right to call expert witnesses and insert certain protections for the makers of drugs and devices used in performing OB/GYN services.

Although I doubt this bill will pass, in the event Bush is elected, you can bet he will place "tort reform" near the top of his agenda. The Conservative Right doesn't like trial lawyers[excepting of course those criminal lawyers that help you avoid prosecution for corporate malfeasance].

Ironically, while the AMA lobbyists and assorted fat cats were busy scurrying around Washington D.C. last week trying to line up support for this bill, a mother and father sat in a Chicago court room watching their son's trial unfold. Their son, now five, was born with severe birth defects at a Chicago hospital. Why? Because an anesthesiologist who was needed in surgery in order to facilitate the C-Section delivery allegedly failed to respond to three separate pages to immediately report to Surgery. And the doctor wasn't tied up in another surgery. He wasn't making rounds or checking on other patients. No, actually, the doctor was a couple floors away, in another room at the hospital with a nurse he was dating at the time. The baby, when delivered, wasn't breathing. The child nearly died. As it turns out, the baby was born with severe birth defects and will have only limited use of his legs, arms and head for the remainder of his life. It is anticipated his future medical care will cost millions of dollars. The family asked for $64 million dollars at the conclusion of the trial. While the jury was deliberating, the case settled for $35 million dollars.

If Senate Bill S.2061 was the law of the land, that child could not recover anything beyond $250,000 for his pain and suffering. That little boy now only has limited use of most of his body because a doctor allegedly ignored multiple calls to report while he spent some quality time with his girlfriend. And the "tort reform" people want you to believe that $250,000 would be an appropriate award for that little boy. "Tort reform" in effect, is an attack on the central tenet of the American system of justice - - the jury. Proponents of "tort reform" don't want the 12 people who sit in the courtroom and actually hear the facts and the evidence to make the decision about damages. Instead, they want damages to be decided by rich, white, conservative men who have no idea about the facts of any of the lawsuits they seek to compromise. They don't have to bother with the facts because...well, they just know better than some bumpkin juror. Tort reform is a bad idea. A very bad idea. Unfortunately, most people won't realize that until someone they love suffers a catastrophic injury. So when you hear all the propaganda about the wisdom of "tort reform" just spend a moment or two thinking about that little boy.