Springer-Lyle News Updates

latest legal news from the law firm of Springer-Lyle

1807 Westminster
Denton, TX 76205

940.387.0404

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Firm Overview
    • Attorney Profiles
  • Areas of Practice
  • Articles and Cases
  • What’s In the News
  • Resources
  • Videos
    • Who is Springer-Lyle?
    • FAQ Videos
      • FAQs on Business Litigation
      • FAQs on Healthcare, Medical & Pharmaceutical Cases
      • FAQs on Personal Injury, Automobile & Trucking Accidents
      • FAQs on Alternative Dispute Resolution
      • FAQs on Probate Cases
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / Blog Articles / Articles of Interest / OP-ED: Tort Reform Demonstrates a Failed Effort

OP-ED: Tort Reform Demonstrates a Failed Effort

August 29, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment

Alex Winslow writes in an OP-ED at Statesman.Com about how the record demonstrates Governor Perry’s claims that legal restrictions on patients’ right to sue would benefit patients at large, make for better practice of medicine and lower health care costs has resulted in just the opposite. Here’s the story:

Taking away right to sue when wrong has been done isn’t helping Texans

Alex Winslow, Local Contributor

While the state is crumbling under a real health care crisis, Gov. Rick Perry and his friends in the special interest lobby continue defending a lobbyist-driven health care battle from a decade ago that has failed Texas patients.

They want you to believe that taking away the legal rights of patients is good medicine. Try as they might, though, there is no disputing the facts:

Texas ranks dead last in the quality of health care, our health care costs are soaring at a rate faster than the national average, we rank near the bottom in the number of doctors who actually see patients, and we have the highest rate of people without health insurance. These are facts, not spin-doctored anecdotes like the ones the governor and his cronies in the insurance lobby like to use.

Back in 2003, politicians and lobbyists made a pack of promises about what they alleged would happen if voters approved a ballot proposition that severely and arbitrarily restricted the legal rights of Texas patients.

Among them was that what you spend on health care would go down. Turns out, they lied. Now, they are trying to cover their tracks.

Insurance industry lobbyist John Opelt recently said, “We did not and have not led voters astray.”

Really? Numerous political mailers paid for by Opelt’s group during the 2003 campaign tell a different story.

One mailer said the ballot initiative would “reduce … health costs.” Another said it would make “health care more affordable and available for all Texans.”

All of this comes from a playbook they’ve been using for decades: Claim there is a crisis of some sort, say that restricting individual legal rights is the solution, promise Texas families and small business owners the moon, and attack anyone who disagrees.

Texans are smart, though. We know when someone is pulling a fast one.

How can it be that eliminating accountability for polluters, careless nursing homes, insurance companies, Wall Street bankers and big drug makers is good for the public? The answer is that it can’t be.

Numerous academic studies by independent organizations and legal scholars prove that it is a fallacy to claim that taking away the legal rights of individuals will benefit the public at-large.

Whether we are talking about patients, policyholders or small business owners, we have seen time and again that when lobbyists succeed in stripping or curtailing individual legal rights, the public is harmed.

The only ones who benefit are a narrow group of special interests.

Yet every time one of these proposals comes to the Texas Legislature, the lobbyists claim this will be good for all Texas citizens.

Texans know better. We believe that accountability is good and necessary. This is a basic value we teach our children.

When a person or corporation causes needless harm, they should be held responsible for it. Plain and simple.

When wrongdoers succeed in getting away with the harm they cause, the rest of us are left to pick up the pieces and pay the tab.

Texas faces a host of real-world problems, including a broken health care system. It has been a decade since the governor signed away the rights of Texas patients under the false promise of better, cheaper, and more accessible care.

Sadly, rather than admitting he was wrong, Perry has chosen to be campaigner-in-chief and head lobbyist for the special interests.

Texans deserve real solutions from leaders who understand the importance of personal and corporate responsibility, and who want to find answers to our state’s problems that improve the lives of everyday Texans — not just a narrow group of powerful interests.

Filed Under: Articles of Interest, Bar Related, Health

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Subscribe by email

Have the latest news from Springer-Lyle
sent to your inbox.

Articles of Interest

Honda Worldwide Recall of Sedans, Minivans, SUVs

By Deepa Seetharaman and Bernie Woodall of Reuters. Honda Motor Co Ltd plans to recall nearly 2 1/2 million vehicles: small SUVs, cars and minivans worldwide. This includes the popular Accord sedan. … [Read More…]

Hip Implant Complaints Increase, While Dangers Are Reviewed

By BARRY MEIER and JANET ROBERTS of the New York Times Published: August 22, 2011 The federal government has received a surge in complaints in recent months about failed hip replacements, suggesting … [Read More…]

Tragedy Brought on by Tainted Fruit

By Moni Basu, CNN William Beach was one of those people who fixated on certain foods. He would eat the same thing voraciously for a few days, and then, when he tired of the same tastes, he moved onto … [Read More…]

No Better Care, Thanks to Tort Reform

Published in The Texas Tribune by guest columnist, Charles M. Silver In 2006, Dr. Howard Marcus wrote that Texas’ 2003 tort reform statute sparked an “amazing turnaround” in which doctors came … [Read More…]

Springer & Lyle, LLP

1807 Westminster
Denton, TX 76205

phone: 940.387.0404
toll-free: 855.387.0404
fax: 940.383.7656

Disclaimer
The contents of this website does not imply legal advise or counsel and does not establish an attorney/client relationship. Please contact us for information on our policies regarding any relationship with clients, potential clients, or non-clients of our firm.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

 

 

make a Pament via LawPay

Return To Top of Page

Copyright © 2023 Springer & Lyle, L.L.P. • • • All Rights Reserved

Website Design by The Crouch Group

Log in