Category Archives: Tort Reform

Wisconsin Governor Signs Bill Lowering Auto Insurance Liability Minimums

Written On April 15, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Union-busting is not the only big political issue in Wisconsin these days. According to a press release from the American Association for Justice, the state has now reduced the minimum required auto liability policy limits. That’s going to be bad news for anyone in Wisconsin who is seriously injured in a car wreck. Here is [...]

Posted in Tort Reform, Vehicle Law or News

Texas Laws Offer Enough Protection To Insurance Companies Already

Written On March 24, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Fort Worth attorney Bob Halsam wrote an excellent editorial for the Star Telegram this week. The topic was some of the off-the-wall “tort reform” bills that have introduced in either the House or Senate recently. Here are the opening paragraphs of the editorial. You can read more after the break.
Gov. Rick Perry’s proposals for Texas’ [...]

Posted in Political and/or Judicial, Tort Reform

Stop Giving Away Our Legal Rights — The Reality Of Tort Reform Is Unfair System

Written On March 10, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Houston attorney Paul Simon wrote an excellent Letter to the Editor of the Houston Chronicle this week:
For the fourth time in recent memory, business interests and insurance companies want to further tilt the scales of justice in their favor. Called tort reform and pitched as being aimed only at frivolous lawsuits, the reality of these [...]

Posted in Political and/or Judicial, Tort Reform

House Malpractice Reform Bill Stalled Over Constitutionality of Damage Caps

Written On February 11, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Hill “Healthwatch” blog reported the House Judiciary Committee “delayed markup of the tort reform bill until next week to consider whether the legislation would clash with state constitutions that forbid medical malpractice caps.” Tea Party Caucus member Rep. Ted Poe objected to the bill because he said malpractice damage caps violate the Constitution.
Modern Healthcare [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Health Tort Reform Sounds Better Than It Is

Written On February 4, 2011 By Bob Kraft

A Daily Kos blog argued against healthcare tort reform proposals, noting medical malpractice’s less than 1.5% of healthcare costs “hardly makes tort reform worthy of the attention it receives for cutting health care costs. Furthermore, tort reform has already been implemented in more than half of the states in some form,” so many states would [...]

Posted in Health Insurance, Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

A Conservative Republican Speaks Out Against Tort Reform

Written On February 2, 2011 By Bob Kraft

This article in the Tennessean was a surprise to me. Republican former presidential candidate Fred Thompson speaks out strongly in objection to Tennessee imposing a cap on damages in medical malpractice claims. I wish Texas politicians were this wise.
I have been asked why I want to take part in the discussions when the state legislature [...]

Posted in Political and/or Judicial, Tort Reform

Obama Defends Healthcare Law and Claims Flexibility on Malpractice Reform

Written On January 31, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Perhaps Groundhog Day is a good time for a post about a “tort reform” myth that just keeps repeating itself  — that limiting the amount of money seriously injured patients can recover will result in lower medical bills for the rest of us.
The AP reported that President Obama “ridiculed lingering opposition” to his healthcare law [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Trial Lawyers Unhappy With Tort Reform Concessions in State of the Union Speech

Written On January 27, 2011 By Bob Kraft

The Hill reports in its “Healthwatch” blog, “President Obama’s State of the Union speech” was “already causing consternation among trial lawyers, half an hour before he even” delivered it. “According to his remarks as prepared for delivery, Obama” planned to “throw a bone to Republicans by vowing to take up medical malpractice reform,” which “usually [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Wisconsin Insurance Changes Targeted for Repeal

Written On January 17, 2011 By Bob Kraft

Now here is something truly bizarre. In these times of escalating medical expenses, Wisconsin Republicans are going to introduce a bill this week to reduce the minimum amount of auto insurance each vehicle owner must carry in that state. The bill would lower the required levels of liability, underinsured, and uninsured motorist coverage.
Currently, the minimum level [...]

Posted in Insurance Company or Government Misconduct, Tort Reform, Vehicle Law or News

Having Surgery in Las Vegas is a Big Gamble

Written On September 22, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Many people consider Las Vegas a great place to take a vacation or attend a conference. After reading an article in the Las Vegas Sun though, I strongly recommend that you not become ill or injured there. Apparently surgical injuries occur at higher rates in Las Vegas than in other parts of the country. This [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Malpractice Reform Is No ‘Silver Bullet’ For Skyrocketing Healthcare Spending

Written On September 16, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Healthwatch, the healthcare blog of The Hill’s Web site, ran an article this week quoting a local North Texas politician. Representative Michael Burgess is the chairman of the Republican Congressional Healthcare Caucus, and he said that medical liability reform is no cure for the nation’s skyrocketing healthcare spending. That was a surprising statement because Representative Burgess [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Medical Errors Continue Despite Advances in Medicine

Written On September 15, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Kansas City Business Journal has an interesting short article this week about the continuing problem of medical errors at hospitals. Here are excerpts:
Today, surgeons can operate on a beating heart and use robotic arms to remove kidneys through belly buttons.
But even as medicine has advanced, the number of medical errors — conditions and injuries obtained [...]

Posted in Health Insurance, Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

What “Tort Reform” Is, and Why It Matters to You

Written On July 14, 2010 By Bob Kraft

The Center for Justice & Democracy has an excellent set of questions and answers about tort reform. Anyone with an interest in this subject should read this information. Here is a description of the Center from its site:
The Center for Justice & Democracy is the only national consumer organization in the country exclusively dedicated to [...]

Posted in Tort Reform

A Prescription for Malpractice

Written On June 23, 2010 By Bob Kraft

An interesting editorial on possible solutions for the “medical malpractice crisis” was featured on the Web site of the New York Times Union. The short article mentions several experiments to be tried in New York City:
The search for a solution to the high cost of medical malpractice has long been like a murder mystery — [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

What Would Cars Be Like Without Trial Lawyers?

Written On April 23, 2010 By Bob Kraft

There’s a great illustration at the Web site of the American Association for Justice that shows what our automobiles might be like today were it not for the efforts of plaintiff trial lawyers over the years. There is also a lengthy report titled Driven to Safety that details the improvements in safety that have been [...]

Posted in Tort Reform, Vehicle Law or News

Safer Patients Mean Fewer Malpractice Suits

Written On April 20, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Could it really be this simple? If doctors and hospitals quit making so many medical errors there would be a decrease in the number of medical malpractice lawsuits? Wouldn’t this solution be much better for society than artificial caps on damages for the victims of medical malpractice?
An article in HealthDay says that as medical errors [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

The Tort Reform Crowd Thinks This Was A Frivolous Lawsuit

Written On March 26, 2010 By Bob Kraft

This was the headline of a recent post on the excellent Boston Personal Injury Blog, written by Massachusetts attorney Alan H. Crede. With Alan’s permission, I am reprinting his post here:

Reading the tort reform blog Pointoflaw.com, I came across a link captioned: “‘Ford failed to warn seating unsafe for obese persons’ suit fails.” Sounds pretty frivolous, [...]

Posted in Political and/or Judicial, Product Liability or Medical Devices, Tort Reform, Vehicle Law or News

Report: Congress Should Focus on Curtailing Medical Errors, Not Patients’ Rights

Written On March 9, 2010 By Bob Kraft

According to an update of the National Practitioner Data Bank released recently, fewer medical malpractice payments were made on behalf of doctors in 2009 than any other year on record. This contradicts claims by some that medical malpractice litigation is to blame for rising health care costs. Last year was the fifth consecutive year the [...]

Posted in Insurance Information, Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

Texas Medical Malpractice Suits Have Almost Disappeared

Written On February 11, 2010 By Bob Kraft

Here’s a short, “in-your-face” statement about medical malpractice in Texas by Ms. Joanne Doroshow, Executive Director of the Center for Justice & Democracy:

No offense to my GOP friends and their one big health care idea – i.e., “tort reform” — but who wants to walk into a hospital these days knowing that there is [...]

Posted in Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform

“Tort Reform” Won’t Fix Health Care

Written On December 22, 2009 By Bob Kraft

In an op-ed article in the Baltimore Sun, attorney Wayne M. Willoughby makes a convincing argument that “tort reform” is not the solution to high healthcare costs. Here are excerpts from the article:
For months now, national Republicans and their media supporters have attempted to divert the health care debate away from improving access to quality [...]

Posted in Health Insurance, Medical Malpractice, Tort Reform