Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Edwards takes on Our Issues: A must see

Senator John Edwards recently responded to a questionnaire which addresses some of the more important issues facing Indian American's today. This questionnaire is a must read for everyone. However, here is one of the things I found most interesting.

Senator Edwards responded to a question regarding medical malpractice liability and how it has plagued the over 40,000 Indian physicians in the country. He explains a multi-pronged solution, addressing policy and legislation changes to alleviate the problem:

"To discourage frivolous suits, I will require lawyers to have an expert testify that actual malpractice has occurred before bringing a suit. There will be mandatory sanctions for lawyers who file frivolous cases, and any lawyer who files three frivolous cases will be forbidden from bringing another suit for the next 10 years"

It's about time that somebody takes a hard line to address this issue. Doctors serve an incredibly immense role in society, yet every so often we see a doctor fall victim to a flawed system, losing his career as well as his ability to save lives. It seems as if Edwards is committed to protecting the profession from the onslaught of "frivolous" lawsuits, and further, is committed to keeping doctors where they belong—in hospitals.

I'd encourage everyone to check out the rest of the questionnaire. Senator Edwards has a pretty impressive message to Indian Americans. It's time for us to listen.

Bobby
Blog Contributor

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

While its nice Edwards is speaking out against frivolous lawsuits, you have to remember that this guy used to be a trial lawyer. I’m sure he made some money in the past from what most people would think are frivolous lawsuits. In fact, it’d be interesting to look at his past case work and see how he made his money as a trial lawyer, not when he took a job at a hedge fund to learn how the markets work, admitted that he didn’t learn anything, and made half a million dollars in the process (do you really want an economy under Edwards?)

Anonymous said...

The Indian-American community makes up a huge part of the medical profession in the US, but its still important to look at the other side of these lawsuits. Imagine how difficult it is to file a malpractice suit against a doctor who holds a “holier than thou” position in our society (and rightly should as a life saver). For anyone whose been in med school, its no secret that many doctors have huge egos as well as a “do no wrong” mentality. Look at the case of Dr. Jayant Patel http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7991906/ hes a former chief surgeon and has been linked to 87 deaths in the US and Australia….

Its important to protect and stand up for our community, like doctors in this case, however, everyone is human and whether they make an innocent mistake or not, they know going into the job that they are held under strict scrutiny as they are dealing with something as valuable as life…

Anonymous said...

At the end of the day Senator Edwards is the only front runner who has responded and continues to show his support for the community! While Hillary and Obama are taking the money and shying away, Edwards hasn't even received much money from the community and is very active. It shows that he genuinely cares about reaching out to many groups!