>Date:         Tue, 6 Apr 2004 13:24:29 -0400
>From:         Congress Watchdog <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Stop the latest attack on consumers' legal rights!
>To:           [log in to unmask]
>
>Stop the Latest Attack on Consumer’s Legal Rights!<?xml:namespace prefix =
>o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
>
>As part of the right wing agenda to undermine the legal rights of those
>who are harmed by negligent or dangerous doctors and health care
>providers, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is trying once
>again to push medical malpractice legislation through the Senate.
>
>In this latest effort, Sen. Frist’s bill would provide significant
>protection from liability for anyone involved in the provision of
>emergency medical care, including a cap on damages. (This is in addition
>to providing protection for anyone involved in women’s health services,
>which was the focus of the last Senate attempt at passing medical
>malpractice “reform.”)
>
>The Senate plans to vote on this bill on Wednesday, April 7, in the afternoon.
>
>Click here to take action and send a free fax to your Senators
>  http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=314&source=2
>
>Background information
>
>Ironicallly, many of the states with the best access to emergency
>medical  care are termed medical malpractice “crisis states” by the
>American Medical Association, while many with the worst access to
>emergency medical  care are ranked as “OK” by the AMA.
>
>The American Medical Association has compiled pages of anecdotes and news
>articles reporting the closings of emergency rooms or lack of access to
>trauma care in its so-called malpractice “crisis” states. But a quick
>review of news reports from the six states the AMA says are “doing OK”
>finds just as many stories. It is clear that limiting the rights of
>malpractice victims is no panacea for problems in delivering emergency
>care. Instead, the systemic problems of American health care - too many
>uninsured, declining reimbursements, lack of doctors in rural and
>inner-city areas, and the defection of surgeons to doctor-owned specialty
>hospitals - must be addressed.
>
>According to a recent inventory of hospital trauma centers, reported in
>the Journal of the American Medical Association, having a cap on
>non-economic damages does not guarantee ready access to a level I and II
>trauma center.  In fact, seven of the top ten states with the recommended
>number of level I and II trauma centers per million populations do not cap
>non-economic damages. Five of those top ten providing the best access to
>emergency care are actually identified as “crisis” states by the AMA!
>
>In contrast, only one of the six states the AMA says is “doing OK” ranks
>in the top ten in providing access to trauma centers. Four of these six
>“OK” states—<?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
>"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Indiana, Louisiana, New
>Mexico, and Wisconsin— actually have fewer than the recommended number of
>trauma centers. Two of them have no formal trauma systems at all. Clearly
>when the AMA judges the presence of a crisis, it has its members’
>interests in mind, not patients’.
>
>Click here to take action and send a free fax to your Senators
><http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=314&source=2>http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=314&source=2

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