Personal Injury Law

Those Championing Health Reform are True Hypocrites

By Steven M. Levin and John J. Perconti

A story in the Huffington Post captured the great disparities in what advocates for tort reform say, and what they actually do. Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is one of the largest donors to the biggest special-interest PAC in Texas and he currently is dedicated to ?slamming courtroom doors? in the face of those hurt by companies. However, it is obvious that he does practice what he preaches considering that he ran straight to a courthouse when he believed bankrupt Lehman Brothers owed him money and filed a $60 million lawsuit. Medical societies in Texas (TMA) are another good example of hypocrites in the tort reform battle. They announce their opposition to the Senate health care bill because it doesn?t go far enough to take away the legal rights of patients injured by grossly negligent medical care. Yet, just awhile ago, the TMA joined with several other state medical societies and sued the country?s largest health insurance companies for delaying payments and keeping money from doctors. While they call attorneys for the truly injured victim ?greedy? and insensitive, their own corporate and insurance lawyers sue often at the smallest provocation. In reality, companies and doctors have never lost their rights under the guise of ?tort-reform? because these laws never limit the rights of corporation?s ability to recover money. However, the severely injured patients have been weakened at the hands of reckless companies. Texas made it nearly impossible for injured patients to file medical malpractice lawsuits at the same time that the Texas Medical Association was running to court to make sure managed care companies paid their doctors. In order to stop the hypocrisy, please contact your US Senator and explain your opposition to tort reform. For a closer look at the Huffington Post article, please click the link.

Full post as published by Illinois Medical Malpractice Blog on November 28, 2009 (boomark / email).