Contact: Mike Vallante
Phone: 626-824-8927
July 19, 2001
The debate in the United States Congress may say Patients
Bill of Rights, but make no mistake about it, the honest name
for this legislation as it exists right now is the Personal Injury
Lawyers' Bill of Rights.
Why has this national debate over health care
turned into a debate over whether trial lawyers will have more
opportunities to use the court system as their playground for
personal profit? Why is it that the business community shudders
at the thought of the proposed unlimited damage awards? Why is
it that employees who stop and think of the consequences of this
legislation are concerned that this so-called government prescription
to help them may actually condemn them to a job with no health
care coverage?
The answer is simple. The personal injury lawyer
industry has made a reputation that precedes itself. Americans
may not trust government. Americans may not trust health care
organizations. But we trust personal injury lawyers even less.
And rightfully so.
We would do well to consider their past actions and behavior
as we engage in a national debate around a bill that weaves personal
injury lawyers into the fiber of our health care system.
There's the ridiculous. Personal injury lawyers
suing on behalf of a contestant on a game show because they felt
unfairly treated. Personal injury lawyers suing because a woman
ate a hot pickle on a hamburger.
There's the outrageous. Personal injury lawyers
getting millions of dollars in settlements while consumers get
coupons.
And there's the unthinkable. Personal injury
lawyers suppressing information about product defects in Firestone
Tires so as not to jeopardize their cases - or their fees -- even
as more and more people died.
Make no mistake about it. The Patients Bill
of Rights as proposed by Representative's Dingell, Ganske, and
Norwood is a bad idea not because patients don't deserve rights,
but because it empowers the personal injury lawyer industry to
expand their ridiculous, outrageous and unthinkable behavior,
all at the cost of American consumers and business.
Businesses know that there is a flood of lawsuits
coming if this bill passes because this legislation will put any
business that provides employee health care at risk of a lawsuit.
Rather than facing that risk businesses will cut back or curtail
their coverage. And that only hurts one person. The American worker.
And even if businesses take the liability risk
and continue providing employee health care coverage, premium
rates will increase making it more difficult for small businesses
to continue offering affordable health care coverage to their
employees. The American worker ends up paying more.
It will take a lot of courage for the political
officeholders in Washington to stand up to this industry. After
all, according to the Center for Responsive Politics the personal
injury lawyer industry contributed about $124 million in campaign
contributions in 2000 alone.
Ultimately, it should be the people who step
forward and tell our elected officials that this so-called Patients
Bill of Rights is a fraud. It won't help consumers. It will hurt
business and it will hurt employees.
Improving our health care system should be an issue. But it should not be a new growth opportunity for the personal lawyer industry -- an industry that has already made a mockery out of our court system, is a documentable drain on our national economy with their frivolous lawsuits, and ultimately doesn't care one whit about the American consumer.
"
Mike Vallante is the Executive Director of Citizens Against
Lawsuit Abuse in Los Angeles, a non-partisan, grassroots citizens
organization dedicated to educating people on the human and financial
costs of lawsuit abuse. He can be reached at maryann@maryannmaloney.com.
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Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) is a non-profit,
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