Friday, June 6, 2008

Tort "Reform" Gone Bad. And the Personal Injury Round-Up

This first piece comes from Medical Economics, and was written by a Nevada physician that had been active in the tort "reform" movement there. He recounts the story of clear negligence -- admitted by the pathologist that read the slides -- and the jury verdict notwithstanding the evidence in favor of the doctor. The author and tort "reformer," medical oncologist Arnold Wax, is appalled and now understands the ramifications of what he brought to his state. (h/t Kevin, M.D.) From the article:

It appeared that the case would be resolved quickly, considering that the defendant freely admitted his error. However, this turned out to be far from true.

...

As I'd expected, the jury found the original pathologist negligent. But, to my surprise, Mary wasn't awarded any damages... The jurors reasoned that the pathologist had not acted maliciously, and that if he were found liable for a monetary award, he might leave the state. They were likely influenced by political ads that ran during the state's tort reform ballot campaign, describing physicians who were leaving Nevada because of its malpractice crisis.

That article, which should be read in full, appeared today and just missed the Personal Injury Round-Up by Brooks Schuelke that appeared in my feed reader at the same time. As usual, Brooks brings all the news that's fit to link.

Labels: tort reform

posted by Eric Turkewitz
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Comments:

i am a personal injury lawyer in Australia. Over the last 7 odd years since the insurance companies took a bath on September 11, State & Federal governments have worked hard to ensure that the insurance companys' pockets are always full. We have seen a slashing of workers, motor accidents and malpractice compensation. Recently one of our major newspapers has been running an exposé of the predatory costing cost gouging by a big plaintiffs' firm. No doubt this will spur a further round of cries to cut back Lawyers costs. However the predators are a very small part of the personal injury legal community. The effect of tort reform has not made insurance more affordable or fairer but it has definitely devastated the firms that do charge and work ethically. I know this is a plug but my website injuryadvicenow.com.au tries to inform victims of negligence about thelr rights and how to look after themselves. Good blog.

# posted by  preference_terry : June 13, 2008 9:16 PM

 

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