ArchPundit

6 Responses to “ Yes, Things Can Get Worse ”

1. # 1 Greg Says:
   February 4th, 2010 at

   Pretty much said the same things.

   Either great minds think a like or we’re both cynics.

   Probably the latter.

2. # 2 Rob Says:
   February 4th, 2010 at

   Good issue for Republicans? Only if Dems concede the point (which they’ve shown an abundant willingness to do in the past).

   Let’s see… health insurance costs are outta control. We had med-mal reform and it clearly didn’t do anything. The state Supreme Court struck down the caps so … what changes?

   Insurance rates are *still* climbing by double-digits or more. Med-mal didn’t work for the people, just the big moneyed special interests. Regular folks had no upside — insurance costs didn’t go down but instead there were “caps” on enforcing responsibilities for other peoples’ negligence and ineptitude which in reality only hurt regular folks more.

   From Scott Brown to Scott Lee Cohen it’s overwhelmingly clear voters are interested in what they think helps them not what helps big money.

3. # 3 ArchPundit Says:
   February 4th, 2010 at

   Greg–the latter for sure.

   Rob–there are problems in Illinois especially down in Southern Illinois. I am not a big tort reform guy overall, but these caps were fairly reasonable.

4. # 4 Rob Says:
   February 4th, 2010 at

   There are similar problems elsewhere in rural parts of the country. The cure isn’t in giveaways to Big Med.

5. # 5 Yellow Dog Democrat Says:
   February 4th, 2010 at

   Larry -

   I’m not a big tort reform guy overall, and I’m from the Metro-East, so I’m well aware with the fever over the issue.

   In fact, Madison County is where a negligent doctor killed my grandmother, at only 74 years old. A retired minister, she left behind 6 children, 12 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Her mother, by the way, lived to be 92.

   Thanks to a negligent doctor who decided to reduce her antibiotics without consulting her surgeon, a staph infection ravaged her body, infecting her spine, and she succumbed after weeks of pain.

   Thanks to a negligent doctor, she won’t be attending my upcoming wedding, nor will my children ever meet her.

   I guess where you sit, these caps seem “fairly reasonable.” I’m guessing you’ve never lost anyone to a negligent doctor nor been a victim yourself.

   Under the caps struck down by the courts, emotional damages against doctors were capped at $1 million…divided amongst my family, that would have worked out to $2,381 for each year of her life a negligent doctor took away from us.

   If there’s any members of your family you’d give up for $2,381 you ought to take them off your Christmas card list.

6. # 6 ArchPundit Says:
   February 4th, 2010 at

   Actually I have lost an uncle to a very similar type of mistake and he was in his early 50s. My aunt and cousins didn’t sue for a number of reasons, but they had significant financial loss as well which wouldn’t have been capped.

   Would $1 million each adequately compensate you or my aunt and cousins? No. And that’s the problem with uncapped emotional damages. You rely not on rational law, but on what a particular jury is willing to do and that’s bad law and Metro East was a pretty good case study in what can happen.

   The problem that I think many people have gotten into with the debate is that law cannot deal with personal loss well. It can deal with financial loss, which we don’t cap, but not personal loss. Instead, we should be seeking a solution to monitor doctors better to track mistakes and hold them accountable even setting up better compensation for smaller mistakes. I’m much more worried about preventing more cases like your grandmother.

   That said, at $1 million the cap is high enough not to discourage medical malpractice lawsuits and provide some compensation for families beyond specific costs.