Posted on 08/22/2004 5:02:37 PM PDT by eartotheground
Jim Long, Commissioner North Carolina Department of Insurance Investigations Division 1201 Mail Service Center Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1201
COMPLAINT RE: Mr. John Edwards, Raleigh, North Carolina
August 23rd, 2004
Dear Mr. Long:
I am filing a complaint with your office regarding John Edwards. Mr. Edwards has litigated several cases in the state of North Carolina in the past several years. These cases involved alleged medical malpractice. As will be outlined below, these cases were presented to juries in a fraudulent manner, in order to obtain vast payments from insurance companies doing business in North Carolina in the field of medical liability. Prior to entering the United States Senate, Mr. Edwards earned tens of millions of dollars by suing many obstetricians in North Carolina. These obstetricians were accused of negligence in their care of pregnant women and their newborn babies. They were all accused of mishandling the delivery of babies, allegedly causing these babies to develop “cerebral palsy”. “Cerebral palsy” is actually a catch-all term referring to many different neurologic conditions which may be present in a newborn child. These conditions may have a variety of causes. It may be difficult or impossible to ascertain the cause and/or time of injury in most cases. As stated by Boosara Ratanawongsa, MD:
Given the complexity of the brain and its vulnerability during many stages of development, it is subject to injury at several times. Cerebral ischemia before the 20th week of gestation can result in a neuronal migration deficit; between the 26th and 34th weeks, periventricular leukomalacia, and between the 34th and 40th weeks, focal or multifocal cerebral injury. To ascribe the cause of cerebral palsy to interpartum asphyxia, no clinical evidence should point to potential antenatal injury, absence of antenatalcerebral injury by neuroimaging, clinical evidence of severe perinatal asphyxia, or exclusion of other causes of neonatal encephalopathy. Given that prenatal factors greatly outnumber perinatal factors in the origin of cerebral palsy and that prenatal factors are difficult to isolate from perinatal and postnatal factors as a cause for cerebral palsy,determining causality due to intrapartum asphyxia or medical neglect is difficult.
These injuries are usually not detected or manifested until after birth. According to a 1994 review in The New England Journal of Medicine, only a small minority of cerebral palsy cases can be attributed to a lack of oxygen at birth. Of these approximately 10% of cases dating back to 1988, very few can actually be attributed to negligence or deviation from the standard of care by the obstetrician. Since Edwards had a lack of scientific evidence to support his litigation efforts, he had to rely on his powers of persuasion with credulous juries. One example is provided by a 1985 case involving a child named Jennifer Campbell. According to court records, Edwards told the jury:
I have to tell you right now – I didn’t plan to talk about this – right now I feel her (Jennifer), I feel her presence. (Jennifer) is inside me and she’s talking to you … And this is what she says to you. She says, ‘I don’t ask for your pity. What I ask for is your strength. And I don’t ask for your sympathy, but I do ask for your courage.
The jury returned a verdict in favor of the Campbells for $6.5 million against the hospital involved. This was later reduced to $2.75 million on appeal. The obstetrician had previously settled out of court for approximately $1.5 million. In the same case, Edwards, referring to the unborn child and the fetal monitor, stated, “She said at 3, ‘I’m fine.’ She said at 4, ‘I’m having a little trouble, but I’m doing OK.’ Five, she said, ‘I’m having problems’. At 5:30, she said, ‘I need out’ “. Thanks to the “heart-wrenching plea” method of jury manipulation, any child with any disability of any kind can be the centerpiece of a multimillion-dollar verdict, irregardless of fault. This is why approximately 90 percent of cerebral palsy cases are settled out of court. The risks of going to trial are too great. Medical malpractice judgments and settlements from cases of brain-damaged infants with “cerebral palsy” earned Edwards an estimated $12.8 to $60 million, since Edwards’ law firm would typically retain between 25 to 40 percent of each award. In the period between 1985 and 1995, Edwards filed at least 20 lawsuits involving “cerebral palsy. In all of these cases, Edwards used the same methods of jury manipulation and unscrupulous representation of medical and scientific principles. Many studies have concluded that fetal monitors are unreliable in determining fetal distress. Despite this fact, the nationwide rate of C-section deliveries has risen from 6 percent in 1970, to 26 percent today. Importantly, this has resulted in absolutely no change in the percentage incidence of “cerebral palsy”.
Many thanks for your consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
Lawyers lie for a living.
A democrat prosecute a democrat, I think not.
Why did Kerry ever pick this fluff of an ambulance chaser for VP? His silly grin is getting irritating.
bttt
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