Santorum and Tort Reform

This is an issue that needs more in depth analysis than I can do this week with limited internet access but meanwhile the Centre Daily Times has an excellent critique of Tricky Ricky's position on tort reform. Santorum mistakenly lays all the blame for medical malpricatice at the lawyers. Yes there are a few bad lawyers out there but there are also bad doctors and bad insurance companies. I can personally attest to how many bad doctors I've seen. Here are a few excerpts from the article:

It's not about lawyers. It's not about greed. It's about the rights of everyday people who suddenly find themselves victims of preventable medical errors.

It's about the man who had the wrong leg amputated.

It's about the woman who had an unnecessary mastectomy because of a false cancer diagnosis.

It's about the baby who'll have to live with cerebral palsy and mental retardation because of a mismanaged labor and delivery.

And it's about the more than 100,000 patients who are killed each year due to medical negligence or wrongdoing.

Santorum is apparently too busy pandering for votes from the physicians' associations to care about the victims. And he is apparently too busy pandering for votes to care about the real problems at the core of the issue.

The writer, Mary Shaw, also points out the infamous Santorum hypocrisy on this issue. Senator Man On Dog and his wife sued for $750,000 for injuries suffered in an auto accident. They settled for less but the point is they tried to cash in via a lawsuit. If there is a legitimate problem here they're part of it. She also notes in the article:

By campaigning for tort reform, Santorum is trying to do away with the last resort of average American people against physicians who do them harm.

He is, in effect, telling us that "malpractice happens," and that physicians shouldn't have to pay so much for their mistakes. The victims should just get over it.