Medical Malpractice Survivors Urge Obama To Keep "Tort Reform" out of Health Insurance Bill

[Better Believe It]

Medical Malpractice Survivors Urge President Obama to Keep 'Tort Reform' out of Health Insurance Bill
NEW YORK, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire

A group of medical malpractice survivors, many with family members who have died or were severely injured as a result of medical negligence, today sent letters to President Obama and the Congressional leadership urging them to keep additional "tort reforms" out of the health insurance reform bill. They said that responding to pressure from the insurance and medical lobbies to limit patients' legal rights would be a "tragic mistake."

The House and Senate health care bills already have provisions that support state efforts to explore litigation alternatives. So far, both the President and the Congressional leadership have opposed severe restrictions on patients' legal rights, such a "caps" on compensation, which Congress voted down at least five times during the Bush Administration. The Congressional Budget Office has said that even the most brutal restrictions on injured patients would save less than 1 percent of total health care costs.

The survivors write, "Many of us have the misfortune of living in states with 'caps' and other laws that make it difficult or impossible to have cases heard before judges and juries. We have heard some commentators say lately that there is 'no downside' to tort reform. They need to spend a day in our shoes.

"These laws have had terrible consequences for us, for injured patients who have been shut out of courts altogether, and for patient safety, in general. They have also burdened taxpayers since some of us have had to turn to taxpayer-funded health and disability programs to provide for our injured family-member. It would be a tragic mistake to impose such 'tort reform' laws on the rest of the country."

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/medical-malpractice-survivors-urge-president-obama-to-keep-tort-reform-out-of-health-insurance-bill-84138682.html

This is a copy of the letter including names and descriptions of the signers:

February 11, 2010
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

As survivors of medical negligence and as patient safety advocates, we are writing to you again
about the issue of medical malpractice and so-called “tort reform.” Many of us have family
members who were lost or severely injured as a result of medical negligence. While the
insurance and medical lobbies continue to attack us, it has been extremely heartening to know
that, so far, you have stood strongly on our behalf, and on behalf of all patients.

However, we are extremely concerned that this issue will again be raised as part of the bipartisan
health care summit that you announced for February 25. We urge you to please keep additional
“tort reforms” out of the health insurance reform bill, beyond what the House and Senate have
already agreed to. This would include proposals like “caps” on compensation for families who
need these funds to survive; one-sided use of clinical guidelines as a means of removing
accountability for providers (we believe patient safety will suffer from such a “one size fits all”
approach especially given conflicts of interest by those who would develop these guidelines);
systems that involuntarily remove cases from the jury system; and any other proposal that is
onerous, unfair to patients and prevents legitimate cases from going forward.

Many of us have the misfortune of living in states with “caps” and other laws that make it
difficult or impossible to have cases heard before judges and juries. We have heard some
commentators say lately that there is “no downside” to tort reform. They need to spend a day in
our shoes.

These laws have had terrible consequences for us, for injured patients who have been shut out of
courts altogether, and for patient safety, in general. They have also burdened taxpayers since
some of us have had to turn to taxpayer-funded health and disability programs to provide for our
injured family-member. It would be a tragic mistake to impose such “tort reform” laws on the
rest of the country. Please remember:
o The extent of medical errors is a real crisis; hospitals are unsafe and the doctor
discipline system is a national disgrace.
o Proposals that reduce the accountability of unsafe hospitals and incompetent
doctors will lead to more errors and system costs.
o Liability limits shift costs of caring for malpractice victims from perpetrators of
malpractice to state Medicaid systems and taxpayers.
o Even if you imposed the most severe limits on patients’ rights, savings would
total at most only ½ of 1 percent of total health care costs.

Provision of medical care should never be accomplished by taking away the right to trial by jury
for someone who was injured through no fault of their own, or reducing the accountability of
anyone who commits wrongdoing. Medical malpractice has taken a huge toll on all of our lives,
as it has on the hundreds of thousands killed or injured each year due to preventable medical
errors. Please continue to explore ways to improve patient safety and reduce unnecessary deaths,
not diminish accountability for wrongdoers, limit our right to have cases heard before judges and
juries, and burden taxpayers with the bill.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss this further, please let our contact person
know: Joanne Doroshow, from the consumer group the Center for Justice & Democracy, 90
Broad St., Suite 401, New York, NY 10004. You can reach her at [phone] or email her at
[e-mail].

Sincerely,
Molly Akers
New Lenox, IL
Molly received an unnecessary mastectomy after being falsely diagnosed with breast cancer.

Barbara Becker
Evansville, IN
Barbara’s mother died in a nursing home after a mentally ill patient attacked her.

Michael Bennett
Baltimore, MD
Michael's father died from being infected with at least six strains of hospital-spread bacteria after
being admitted to the hospital with a respiratory virus.

Elie Ghawi
St. Charles, IL
Elie had the wrong side of his brain operated on.

Lisa Gourley
Omaha, NE
Lisa’s son, Colin, developed cerebral palsy and brain damage as a result of a doctor’s negligence
during delivery.

Donna Harnett
Chicago, IL
Donna’s son, Martin, developed cerebral palsy and brain damage as a result of a doctor’s failure
to deliver in a timely manner. Martin died this month at age 14.

Lauren Lollini
Denver, CO
Lauren, along with thirty-five other patients at a Denver hospital, became infected with Hepatitis
C, after a hospital staff person used hospital syringes for drug use.

Dylan Malone
Everett, WA
Dylan’s son, Ian, suffered severe brain damage at birth after a doctor used a drug to induce labor
that the manufacturer explicitly warned should not be used for that purpose. Ian died at age four.

Justin Mattes
Woodcliffe Lake, NJ
Justin developed cerebral palsy during a breech birth, in which the doctor failed to perform a
Caesarian Section.

John McCormack
Pembroke, MA
John’s 13-month-old daughter, Taylor, died of a brain injury after a neurosurgeon in the
emergency room has his pager on mute and did not answer pages. The operating room nurse
stated that Taylor’s condition would have been treatable if a neurosurgeon had been available.

Rev. Michael Moran
New Milford, CT
Michael’s mother-in-law suffers from permanent, severe disability from a stroke caused when a
nurse delivered an overdose of Heparin.

Patti O’Regan, ARNP, ANP, NP-C, PMHNP-BC
Board Certified Nurse Practitioner
Adult Primary Care & Psychiatry
Port Richey, FL

Kathy, Scott, and Steven Olsen
Chula Vista, CA
Steven is blind and brain-damaged because an HMO refused to give him an $800 CAT scan
when he was 2-years-old. His jury award was severely capped by California’s law.

Jean Rexford
Redding, CT
Executive Director, CT Center for Patient Safety.

Lisa and Wil Searcy
Scottsville, VA
Lisa and Wil’s daughter, Cara Leigh, died of cardiac arrest due to complications during kidney
removal surgery. Despite the nurse’s calls to the surgical team, she was allowed to deteriorate
for sixteen hours.

Patty Skolnik
Denver, CO
Director of Citizens for Patient Safety
Patty’s son, Michael, developed severe brain injuries and later died after a botched brain surgery.

Mary Steinberg
Chicago, IL
Mary’s husband died after a surgery, in which a four-inch metal retractor was left lodged against
his intestine.

Ken and Brenda Stoltz
Leesburg, VA
(Their story is subject to confidentiality agreement, but they add: “The right to sue is the last line
of defense for consumers of medical care. In many instances, if not most, it is the only way to get
a public record, hold the individual responsible and/or receive just funds for care, pain and
suffering. We beg Congress not to limit our right to seek these things under the law. I would
love to share our personal story, but I am unable to due to confidentiality agreement.

http://centerjd.org/archives/press/2010/ObamaLetter2-11-10.pdf

[TexasObserver]

1. CAPs hurt the grievously injured, not the frivolous claimants.

[Better Believe It]

2. Frivolous lawsuits are thrown out of court. Personal injury attorneys won't take on such lawsuits

because they work on a settlement percentage fee. If the lawsuit is frivolous and is thrown out the lawyers not only don't make any money, they actually lose money because of all the expenses involved in filing a lawsuit. They have to eat those expenses.

I have a friend who was personal injury lawyer for over 40 years before he retired. He and other lawyers with the firm would not accept any clients that didn't have serious and honest claims.