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REAL PEOPLE IN REAL PAIN WILL SUFFER FROM SUPPOSED REFORMS
May 26, 2003- Canton Repository
June 6, 2003- Akron Beacon Journal
It's taking place right before your eyes.
Special interests, in the name of "reform" are gutting the civil justice system. The Republican controlled Ohio Statehouse is providing shelter to drunk drivers, incompetent doctors and corporate criminals. By the time legislators are done, the keys to the courthouse will be in the hands of only the rich and the powerful.
The most outrageous proposals concern so-called caps on what an injured person may recover. Republicans insist caps are fair because only "pain" and suffering" compensation is limited, not economic loss, such as lost wages. What about the elderly, children or homemakers who suffer no lost wages? Why should their recovery be limited? More significantly, why should those who suffer less injury be afforded 100 percent compensation, while those who are catastrophically injured settle for pennies on the dollar?
On the national front, the Bush administration is asking Congress to cap damages in medical malpractice cases at $250,000. Imagine a homemaker, with no loss, horribly maimed by a derelict doctor, receiving $250,000 for a lifetime of "pain and suffering"
These mean spirited proposals are particularly outrageous because the "reforms" do not address the underlying problem- soaring insurance rates. Wouldn't it be logical to tie tort reform to lower premiums?
Incredibly, the Republicans have never demanded that the insurance industry reduce premiums upon passage of any so-called reform. In fact, not only have premiums never been reduced in any state where "reform" was implemented, but they have continued to skyrocket.
The tragedy of this charade is that it actually hurts real people, whose lives have been devastated through no fault of their own. If drunk drivers, incompetent doctors and manufacturers of defective products receive immunity from liability and accountability for their acts, God help us all.
ATTORNEY ALLEN SCHULMAN JR.
CANTON
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