Corp Reform - Not Tort Reform

"Consumer Rights Attorney"

At my college, there are quite a few students either in or interested in going into the medical profession as nurses or doctors.  I know this because in almost every class I've taken, the first day of school includes a "stand up and introduce yourself" session. 

I've found that if I tell the class I want to be a "personal injury attorney," professors end up making sarcastic remarks about suing doctors, and the medical students in the class glare at me or treat me with disdain.  So I've started telling people that I want to be a "consumer rights attorney."  This isn't a lie - I see myself filing many a lawsuit against sloppy credit reporting agencies and crooked creditors, as that's another area of law I feel passionate about.  The checks on my wall from various pro se cases I've won help keep the fires stoked.

Honestly, I don't see myself doing much medical malpractice work.  Not because I'm morally opposed to suing medical providers, but because the average medmal case is dry, boring, and scientific - three traits I find very unappealing.  Sure, car wrecks aren't overly exciting, but at least I can try and bring some drama into the case: "And Mister Jones' SUV careened recklessly out of control, and plowed into my client's vehicle like a runaway freight train of death and destruction!"  But most medmal cases turn on far more mundane details, such as whether 27 milligrams of such and such was too much or too little, or whether Doctor so and so breached the standard of care by waiting ten minutes to administer some medication instead of only five.  I'm sure I could depose 1,000 doctors and never get a single one to do his Alec "Do I have a God Complex?" Baldwin impersonation.

So even though I doubt I'll end up suing many medical providers, I've realized I wouldn't want to tell my doctor that I'm a personal injury attorney.  I've seen the way doctors react at the mere mention of injury lawyers, and quite frankly, I don't want to be treated by a doctor who thinks I'm an evil, evil man. 

It truly is too bad that doctors and lawyers now have adversarial relationships even outside of the courtroom.  If anyone has some suggestions on how lawyers can reach out to doctors, I'd love to hear them. 

Insurer Profitability

Cyrus has more coverage at TortDeform.com

TortDeform.Com Recap

For those of you who haven't checked out TortDeform.com yet, here's a brief recap of some of the articles I've really enjoyed.

Having Their Cake & Eating It, Too:  Cyrus comments upon a great WaPo article that points out how tort reformers want to have their cake - less legal liability - and eat it too - less governmental regulation.  My favorite quote is:

"This isn't an economic argument so much as a political one. A totalitarian state such as China may be able to duck these kinds of trade-offs, and there is no doubt Chinese exporters are more competitive as a result. But that is not realistic for an advanced democracy whose citizens prefer to use some wealth, or forgo some economic efficiency, in exchange for safer products and workplaces and more responsive corporate governance."

Perhaps moving to a slave labor system would make reformers happy.  Certainly, it would increase corporate efficiency.

Lousiana's Supreme Court Gets It Right: Also from Cyrus, this post comments upon the Lousiana Supreme Court's decision to overturn the $500k cap on medical malpractice suits.  Good news like this is rare.

GM Tears Up Our Medical System: I've often argued that before we try and "reform" the medical system, we need to fix it's inefficiencies.  How inefficient is it?

"The automaker loses about $4 million a day because of medical errors and inefficiencies."

That's over $1 billion per year.  Just for GM.  Ouch.

Michigan Gets It W R O N G:  Henry Greenspan covers just how badly broken the liability system is in my current state of Michigan. 

"Michigan suddenly hosted a parade of anti-tort luminaries. Engler teleconferenced his way into an abruptly created "Tort Reform Committee" in the State legislature. Sherman "Tiger" Joyce, President of ATRA, visited Michigan incarnate. So did Daniel Troy, former FDA Chief Counsel and "godfather" of the contemporary FDA preemption doctrine. Troy reworked an earlier paper to include a section specifically defending Michigan's 1995 law, and his talk--presented at a meeting of the Federalist Society in Ann Arbor--was webcast to relevant Michigan legislators and beyond. In the meantime, the 2006 annual meeting of ATRA, opened by special guest Karl Rove, was reportedly much preoccupied by the smoke rising in Michigan. The natives were restless. Clearly, for the pro-immunity boys (they mostly are), it was time to restore order. "

Any cause that both Tiger and Rove support pretty much has to be pure unadulterated evil. 

Justinian's Work: There's the link to see what posts I've made at TortDeform.com.  Most, but not all of my posts there will be cross-posted here.  I just need to figure out the mix.  FYI, I'll be posting at least every Thursday there.  I'm planning on a Thursday post there, and a Friday or Saturday post here.

As always, if you find something you think I'd be interested in, or have any questions, don't hesitate to email me at justinian AT corpreform.com