Medical Malpractice and Tort Reform: AAJ Primer

The American Association for Justice released a Medical Negligence Primer recently, an appropriate response to the propaganda being shoveled out by the insurance and health corporate lobbies. The publication does a good job debunking the myths that medical malpractice lawsuits are out of control, along with other issues commonly twisted by those who seek special protection. Recently, I heard AAJ's immediate past president point out that what this medical malpractice lawsuit reform movement really seeks to do is set doctors and other healthcare providers apart from the rest of us. I have never heard lawyers suggest that they should be allowed to have special immunities from lawsuits in the event that they commit malpractice. What about engineers, architects and contractors? This is just one of the issues, but I thought the point was well made. People who have been hurt or killed by the negligence (meaning lack of appropriate due care, essentially) of health care providers (doctors, nurses, hospitals, etc.) whould have redress in our court system. The Seventh Amendment to our constutition provides the right to a trial by jury for all citizens; and we are seeing an erosion of this right.