A handful of Duntsch’s patients turned to the courts to hold Duntsch and the hospitals accountable. In legal filings, they allege Duntsch was erratic, and even under the influence of drugs and alcohol while performing surgery. But his patients faced a roadblock: the decade-old tort reforms that raised the burden of proof and reduced the potential payout for medical malpractice cases.
I seem to recall that conservatives keep repeating "tort reform" as the best way to lower medical costs. Is this the kind of outcome they were hoping to create?
“The point of tort deform is not to save business from a non-existent ‘flood’ of frivolous lawsuits. The flood is just as phony as the Social Security ‘crisis.’ It's a fight between big business and the trial lawyers, and as the African proverb says, "When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." We're the grass in this titanic clash of special interests. What we stand to lose is the great America right to sue the bastards. What business calls tort "reform" just means the doors of the courthouse will be shut to average citizens. You cannot get justice.” — The late, great Molly Ivins, Feb. 22, 2005
I seem to recall that conservatives keep repeating "tort reform" as the best way to lower medical costs. Is this the kind of outcome they were hoping to create?
Yes.
“The point of tort deform is not to save business from a non-existent ‘flood’ of frivolous lawsuits. The flood is just as phony as the Social Security ‘crisis.’ It's a fight between big business and the trial lawyers, and as the African proverb says, "When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." We're the grass in this titanic clash of special interests. What we stand to lose is the great America right to sue the bastards. What business calls tort "reform" just means the doors of the courthouse will be shut to average citizens. You cannot get justice.” — The late, great Molly Ivins, Feb. 22, 2005
Ah, Molly Ivins. The world is a darker place without her.