I usually leave malpractice links to medpundit and RangelMD, but this one is so good that I wanted to share it - A plague spread by fee-bitten lawyers. I know the arguments - the patient was injured by the evil medical system. How can we value and limit the financial 'penalty'? Juries do not care, because in their case they believe the insurers, doctors and hospitals have deep pockets. Unfortunately, we need polticians to step up like they did in California. Each suit (even the many unsuccesful suits) damages our health care system - raising costs for patients. Physicians really want to care for patients, that is why we chose medicine. The unintended consquence here is scary.

Maybe we ought to start putting labels on some lawyers, like the kind on the side of cigarette packs: "Warning: Immense jury awards can be dangerous to obstetric care and trauma centers."

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California's example needs to be emulated, for health's sake. Mississippi's governor, Ronnie Musgrove, is expected to call a special session of that state's legislature to do something about the out-of-sight costs of medical malpractice insurance in his state. Nobody is trying to limit awards for actual damages, but punitive damages are now damaging the public health most of all.

The Bush administration has tried to get Congress' attention as this medical/legal crisis developed. It suggested limiting out-of-control jury awards, but was stymied by the Democrats in the Senate.

When one party has been largely captured by a special interest — in this case, the trial lawyers' lobby — the chances for reform begin to resemble those of a poor patient in urban Philadelphia or rural Mississippi.

Let's hope the Senate gets another chance to cap jury awards beyond actual damages — before more obstetricians take down their shingles, and more hospitals shut down vital services.

In the meantime, the prognosis for reform remains poor. Not every plague, it turns out, is the result of micro-organisms. This one is spread by lawyers.

Well said!