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Sunday, January 19, 2003Remember what happened to Dan Quayle when he dared to criticize the trial lawyers? (For that matter, remember Dan Quayle?) The legal profession went on a very highly publicized defensive. If only the medical profession would go on just as vigorous a defensive when we’re unjustly accused of killing 98,000 people a year, or leaving behind 1500 instruments in bodies every year. I’m willing to concede that the medical profession could police itself better, although I have no idea how. One of the hospitals in my city tried to remove a subpar surgeon from the staff. He sued them, and the chief of surgery who made the decision, for loss of income and defamation of character. Both the hospital and the chief of surgery lost to the tune of millions of dollars. You can understand why they’d be shy of taking such an action again. I’m fully aware of the importance of lawyers. I firmly believe that everyone should have the right to air their grievances in court. But, there is no reason to think that ours is a perfect system or that it doesn’t need reformed. It isn’t right that lawyers can troll for clients from the police accident reports, or records of ambulance runs. It isn’t right that everyone ever involved in a patient’s care can be sued without consideration of their role in that care or of the merits of the suit. And it isn’t right that companies who have never dealt with asbestos are being sued by people who have never been exposed to asbestos. Then there are the people who have suffered at the hands of their own attorneys. The son of one my patients went to jail when a prosecuting attorney reneged on her plea bargain agreement - after she discovered that televsion cameras would be in the court room. One of my father’s friends had his inheritance stolen by the attorney managing the estate, an occurence which is all too common. Then, there’s the person whose defense lawyer slept during the trial - without any consequences, except to his client. Are these sorts of things disciplined? Evidently not for long, or not often. In fact, according to HALT, an organization devoted to legal reform, in a lot of states people with grievances against their attorneys can’t bring them to the public’s attention the way, say, people with grievances against companies or doctors can: HALT's Report Card reveals that nine states still have "gag rules" that prohibit legal consumers from speaking about their grievances. "If the agency finds out that you've spoken to a reporter or even just told your friends or family about your grievance, you could be held in contempt of court, fined or imprisoned. This is a clear violation of the First Amendment right of free speech," stated Suzanne M. Mishkin, HALT's Associate Counsel and Director of the Lawyer Accountability Project. Obviously, the legal profession is no more perfect than the medical profession. The difference is, they seem to have no interest in improving the situation. (For more about HALT’s lawyer accountability project, click here.) posted by Sydney on 1/19/2003 09:56:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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