Posted on 02/12/2007 10:25:19 AM PST by SmithL
The Capitol's "tort war" began in 1975 when doctors, hospitals and other purveyors of medical care pressured the Legislature and then-Gov. Jerry Brown into placing a cap on "pain and suffering" compensation in medical malpractice lawsuits. They cited a steep increase in malpractice insurance premiums.
The medicos blitzed the Capitol. Physicians' wives staged a sleep-in in the governor's office foyer to impose the $250,000 compensation limit, which resulted in a sharp drop in malpractice insurance premiums. The cap became a model for similar efforts in other states.
It was a huge wake-up call for what was then called the California Trial Lawyers Association. And it was the beginning of decades of almost constant political warfare over who can sue whom and over what, pitting attorneys against business and professional groups and the insurance industry.
Stripped to the conflict's essentials, lawyers, who work on contingency fees, try to expand opportunities to sue and collect. Those on the other side try to narrow the grounds for suits and monetary damages.
The tort war has been fought in the Capitol, in the media, on the ballot and in the courts. The financial stakes are incalculably enormous, literally tens of billions of dollars. The money the rivals spend, while tiny in comparison to the stakes, is huge in political terms.
Lawyers, insurers and dozens of business and professional groups annually commit millions of dollars to campaign contributions, lobbying fees, public relations campaigns, underwriting front groups and other political munitions. But in the 32 years since it began, the net result has been a virtual stalemate.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
The Malpractice caps have been a tremendous success.
We need caps on other torts as well -- a cap on wrongful death awards is long overdue.
Malpractice caps seem like a great idea until some quack mistakenly removes your HEALTHY kidney or amputates the wrong leg.
Our heatlh care costs and health insurance premiums are not reflecting any benefits from these caps.
The cap isn't on the actual damages, it is on the pain and suffering awards. Since pain and suffering are subjective, it is impossible for one man, or a group of men, to evaluate what pain and suffering were experienced by another man. The actual damages and losses are not affected. The trouble is that these verdicts lead to lawsuit lotto. If the trial lawyers are so concerned over proper conduct in medicine, just once I would like to see one of them demand the judge issue an injunction to prohibit an incompetent physician from treating patients.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.