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Medical
Malpractice
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White House Supported Legislation to Limit Damage
Awards
Senate Democrats blocked White House
supported legislation to
limit damage awards in medical malpractice lawsuits, probably dooming the initiative in
the 108th Congress but ensuring it a prominent role in next year's campaigns. The largely
party-line vote was 49 to 48 in favor of taking the bill 11 votes short of the 60 needed
to cut off a Democratic filibuster.
Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) Pulled the bill from the floor and moved to other business.
The House approved the legislation earlier this year, and it has been a centerpiece of
President Bush's effort to overhaul the civil liability system, primarily by limiting
court-ordered awards to victims. But several Republicans said they viewed the vote as the
beginning of what could be a long fight over proposed changes in rules for civil
litigation.
This issue could play a large role in next year's presidential
and congressional campaigns. Democrats accused insurance companies of raising premiums to
make up for investment losses. Malpractice victims, they said, should not be denied their
day in court in order to protect those who have harmed them, including physicians,
hospitals, HMO's and medical device manufacturers.
"When 100,000 people die every year because of medical
mistakes... we ought to give people a chance to find a way to address the economic
consequences of those mistakes,"said Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-South
Dakota). Democrats have rallied behind an alternative offered by Sens. Richard J. Durbin
(D-Illinois) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-South Carolina). Most Republicans appear cool to the
idea of a compromise. The Durbin-Graham bill seeks to improve information on medical
errors, repeal the insurance industry's exemption from federal antitrust laws and provide
tax relief for doctors in high-risk specialties. (Source - Helen Dewar, The Washington
Post, 07/10/2003)
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You may need personal injury lawyers
to protect your rights! Where a more serious and/or permanent
injury has been sustained, an individual who does not have the
training and experience in personal injury law, is not on an even
playing field with the claims representative, and/or defense
attorneys. Claim reps have specialized training, experience, and are
closely supervised to operate within strict insurance company
guidelines. Nonetheless, insurance adjusters many times will go to
great lengths to keep an injured accident victim from hiring a
personal injury lawyer to represent them.
Their insurance
company is motivated to do only one thing,
settle your claim as cheaply as possible.
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