Sweeney said many people who believe they were injured by medical negligence no longer can have their day in court because of the legislation, pushed by Republican lawmakers and approved on a state wide ballot.
"I have Republicans calling saying, 'But my case isn't frivolous.' I explain that they didn't just close the courthouse doors to frivolous cases, but to most all cases," Sweeney said.
This is the beauty of the tort reform argument. Bob Perry and his tort reform buddies demonized the "greedy" trial lawyers and since the vast majority of consumers will never need the services of a trial lawyer they were an easy target. They were easy to blame for the ills of the judicial system.
And many wouldn't think twice about making fun of attorneys, at least up until they needed one. (I say this from experience, by the way. A very bad experience.) But these are few and far between cases. Now most of those injured by a doctor will never find a lawyer to take the case or will have to extraordinarily high legal fees if an attorney is found.
It was a perfect plan by the tort reformers. The only people who know just how bad the limits on medical malpractice were going to be were the attorneys and they were easy to attack and had few supporters.So if you or your family is ever harmed by a doctor, just remember:
"When you take accountability out of the system, what you do is encourage unqualified doctors to come to a place where they can practice without worry," Houston medical malpractice lawyer Jim Perdue Jr. said.
State records show, for example, that a doctor who lost her license in Virginia and New Mexico was granted a restricted license in Texas.
Perdue and Sweeney said medical malpractice cases are still filed. But many cases, especially ones involving the deaths of children or other nonwage earners, cost so much and net so little the families skip the heartache of reliving their losses in court.
Yes. You, we got scammed.
7 comments:
We elected every one of these people to office. How many more examples do we need of failed citizenship, of failing to do the absolute minimum required of us as voters? We surely can't blame all of this on the Matts among us.
The medical malpractice limits had to be approved by the voters of Texas. It was a change to the Constitution. It passed 51% to 49% (or something very close)
Many were told it would reduce insurance rates for doctors, and it might have. We were told it would lower our medical costs with the savings of the insurance reductions passed on to consumers. Yea right.
We were promised the world and all we got was screwed.
luckily the vast majority of people will never see the damage these idiots did to our justice system.
For those who do, well, welcome to Texas.
I saw on the news a little while back where over 2000 doctors were moving to Texas because of tort reform. Wonder how many of these may have had their licenses revoked in their states? Yet, Texas allows them to practice here.
Reminds me of the perverts thrown out of their school systems in other states but they come to Texas, get a job and are at it again.Seems someone did not do their job in background checks.
Texas just seems to be a mecca for "that" kind of thing.
Same thing was offered to us when drivers were required to have insurance. Still didn't lower rates.
Whenever the argument is "it will save us money", don't believe it!
"State records show, for example, that a doctor who lost her license in Virginia and New Mexico was granted a restricted license in Texas." The Houston Chronicle article's vague single sentence leaves out facts that, when known, alter the imression that TMB is issuing licenses without concern for patient safety. In this case, the other states' licenses that had been suspended were fully reinstated; the physician went back for additional medical education and entered a different specialty (preventive medicine); and her agreed licensure order prohibits her from performing surgery, thereby salvaging a valuable medical education and serving the public good while protecting public safety.
I just cant wait till my premiums go down!
Once again, John makes it clear that he believes the world would be a better place if enlightened liberals like him ran the place and the rest of the folks didn't get a say.
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