PROPOGANDA FROM THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

PROPOGANDA FROM WILLIAM G. PLESTED III, M.D. PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

The following letter was written by William G. Plested III, M.D. the current President of the American Medical Association. It is part of an ongoing campaign by the medical industry to profiteer at the expense of their [patients and the constitutional rights of all Americans. Contrary to Dr. Plested’s assertion, the MICRA type bill the former majority in Congress attempted to foist on the American public, was never a success. It was impacted by a California Constitutional Amendment that forced medical malpractice insurance companies to roll back premiums. That fact coupled with the MICRA caps has wreaked untold hardship on the victims of malpractice in California who receive inadequate compensation for their injuries. This population includes many senior citizens, women and children as well as people making a modest living.

Here for your own indigestion is what Dr. Plested had to say:

“The new year is upon us and brings excitement and hope for new beginnings in all of our endeavors. It is time to review our gains and losses in 2006, and to set our goals for 2007. So let's begin with an honest and critical look at the year that has just been completed.
Last year, our No. 1 legislative priority was again medical liability reform. For the 10th time in the past 10 years, our MICRA-type bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, only to be stalled in the Senate. As in past years, the bill was prevented from a floor vote by the filibuster or cloture rule.

Even though it appears that we would prevail in a floor vote, such a vote has been prevented by a handful of senators. The cloture rule necessitates a supermajority vote of 60 to bring a bill to the floor for a final vote that can enact the bill with a simple majority vote of 51.
Another major setback was a ruling by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Lake Charles, La. A five-judge panel struck down the Louisiana cap on damages in a 3-2 decision. Fortunately, the written decision included some gross inaccuracies, such as a statement that there is absolutely no proof that caps are related to the lowering of medical liability premiums.
Statements such as this give us hope that this unfortunate ruling can be overturned on appeal. However, the crystal-clear lesson for us is that even our most dearly won gains are at risk as long as there are trial lawyers and judges, as long as the tort system is the method by which medical liability claims are adjudicated.

On a much more positive note, we saw continued reductions in the medical liability insurance premiums charged to physicians in Texas. This follows their tort reform efforts and the passage of Proposition 12, which amended the Texas constitution to allow for caps. It is reported that the improvement in the medical liability climate in Texas has been so remarkable that their state medical board has been swamped with applications from physicians who want to practice in the Lone Star State. This Texas experience documents the fallacy of the ruling in Louisiana.”

So Dr. Plested continues to harp on the medical industry’s failure to impose punitive measures on the public. Instructively, the effort that defeated the measure was bi-partisan. Further, it is instructive to note that the electoral revolution last November threw the Republican special interest machine out of power so that it is extremely unlikely that the current Congress will barter with our constitutional rights. Sorry Dr. Plested, Texas is not a shining example of how health care in this country should work. People are getting hurt with limited right of redress. It only makes Texas a great state in which a physician can practice malpractice rather than to practice medicine.

Happily, here in Connecticut, malpractice insurance companies have been exposed for their greed, and skyrocketing profits. Independent studies have demonstrated that absence of need for depriving people of their rights and instead, there is movement toward forcing the medical community to police itself and to hold bad doctors and profiteering insurance companies accountable.

All of my conclusions are supported by a recently released Report by Citizens Action, the public interest watchdog. The report may be found at http://www.citizen.org/documents/NPDB%20Report_Final.pdf.

Stewart M. Casper
Casper & de Toledo LLC
1458 Bedford St.
Stamford, CT 06905
Tel. (203) 325-8600
Fax (203) 323-5970
Board Certified in Civil Trial Advocacy by the National Board of Trial Advocacy
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