Congress is to vote on its medical malpractice bill this week. The law would harshly restrict patients' and health care consumers' ability to hold doctors, physicians, hospitals and health care providers responsible for negligence. It would unduly limit medical product manufacturers and sellers accountability. As a Wisconsin personal injury lawyer, I would not be doing any of my medical malpractice clients justice if I did not encourage you to call your Representative and urge them to vote NO on H.R. 5.

Point out the following: 1)The insurance industry has too much control over our health care system. 2)Until we reform the insurance industry, we won't be able to reduce malpractice premiums for doctors or, most important, assure access to care. 3)Caps don't lower health care costs. 4)Instead of helping the insurance industry by taking away people's rights, we need to take away the insurance industry's anti-trust exemption and enact insurance reform. The insurance industry shouldn't have more rights than patients. 5)Insurance companies are allowed to collude and fix prices. Let's make the insurance industry operate like other businesses in America and force insurers to provide honest and open accounting. 6)There is no medical malpractice insurance crisis in Wisconsin. In fact, the Medical Malpractice Fund is overflowing with money.

If you need MORE proof that tort reform is just an insurance company ploy see USA Today's March 5, 2003 report on an impressive six-week study that found that doctors "are minimally affected" by rising malpractice premiums and that malpractice insurance premiums aren't rising rapidly.