Common Good Responds to ABA Resolution February 15, 2006 COMMON GOOD RESPONDS TO ABA RESOLUTION
OPPOSING SPECIAL HEALTH COURTS
New York, NY – February 15, 2006 – Common Good, the bipartisan legal reform coalition, issued the following statement today in response to the resolution adopted on Monday by the American Bar Association opposing the creation of special health courts:
The American Bar Association this week adopted – against the recommendation of its Health Law Committee – a resolution opposing the creation of special health courts. This puts the ABA in conflict with a broad coalition of patient advocates, consumer groups, and think tanks that are calling for pilot projects of special health courts to begin to restore reliability to medical justice. A bipartisan bill is pending in the U.S. Senate to authorize pilot projects for special health courts, which are being developed by a joint venture of Common Good and the Harvard School of Public Health with funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
It is disappointing that the ABA would oppose this consumer-oriented reform. Perhaps it is not surprising, since 60 percent of the cost of the current medical malpractice system goes to lawyers and court costs. More money now goes to lawyers’ fees than to patients who have been harmed by medical malpractice.
The current system fails to provide reliable justice. Most patients who are harmed by medical errors get no compensation at all; doctors who did nothing wrong, especially in circumstances of human tragedy, are often hit with huge verdicts; and there is no standard of care that doctors or patients can rely upon. The nearly universal distrust of medical justice drives up costs – tens of billions of dollars are spent in defensive medicine – and drives down quality, chilling the open professional interaction needed for effective health care.
America has a long history of turning to special courts in areas requiring specific expertise -- Admiralty courts, bankruptcy courts, tax courts and administrative tribunals in areas ranging from workers compensation to vaccine liability.
The concept of special health courts has gained rare bipartisan support and growing endorsements from virtually all constituencies which have a legitimate interest in restoring the health of American health care.
· The concept of health courts has been endorsed by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and by the Progressive Policy Institute, a major Democratic think tank.
· Hearings in the U.S. Senate are expected shortly on legislation introduced by Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Max Baucus (D-MT) to authorize special health courts on a pilot project basis. A similar bill has been introduced in the House by U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry of Texas.
· Scores of the nation’s most prominent leaders in health care and the law have called for the creation of special health courts, including university presidents, medical school deans, former high-ranking government officials from both political parties, and current or former heads of healthcare policy, healthcare quality or patient safety organizations. (A list is available at www.cgood.org.)
· Joining Common Good in advocating the creation of pilot projects for health courts are such leading organizations as, among others, the American Association of Retired Persons, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Association of Family Practitioners, the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the state medical societies in Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
· Editorial support from major news publications includes, among others, an editorial in USA Today stating that “health courts could show the way for quicker and fairer compensation to the deserving.”
Healthcare is in trouble, and the choices needed to fix it can’t be made without a reliable foundation of law. The time has come to put the public interest ahead of special interests.
To speak with Philip K. Howard, Chair of Common Good, about this issue or for additional information, please contact Danielle Rhoades or Allison Aldrich at (212) 576-2700 or visit www.cgood.org.
Common Good is a bipartisan legal reform coalition dedicated to restoring common sense to American law. Its board is composed of leaders in a wide range of fields: former government officials, including Howard Baker, Bill Bradley, Griffin Bell, Newt Gingrich, Eric Holder, George McGovern, Diane Ravitch, Alan Simpson, and Richard Thornburgh; current and former university presidents, including Tom Kean, William Brody, George Rupp, and John Silber; and numerous other leaders in education, health care, law, business, and public policy. The Chair of Common Good is Philip K. Howard, a lawyer and author of The Death of Common Sense and The Collapse of the Common Good.
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