This year is an important one in Mississippi politics. Gov.
Ronnie Musgrove is up for re-election and is likely to face stiff
opposition from the Republican challenger, which will most likely
be former Rep. Haley Barbour.
A key issue in this election will be tort reform, although
realistically, the governor can do little about it. Business
leaders, medical professionals and quite a few politicians have all
jumped on the tort reform bandwagon-not just in Mississippi,
either. President George W. Bush referred to “the constant threat
that physicians and hospitals will be unfairly sued” as a primary
cause of high health care costs. Doctors and surgeons all over the
country have staged walkouts, strikes and demonstrations to call
for tort reform. Many tort reform advocates have proposed a limit
on damages awarded for pain and suffering. The number currently
being tossed around is $250,000.
Frivolous and unnecessary lawsuits happen like the case in which
a man is suing McDonald’s claiming that the restaurant is liable
for making him obese. There are cases of people getting awards that
they don’t really deserve. There are also numerous cases of
outright fraud.
However, there are also cases where the victim is real. There
are cases where a person has been killed, maimed or irreparably
damaged, and the hospital or physician is clearly to blame. For
these people, a financial limit on pain and suffering would be a
hideous injustice.
A woman in Georgia was diagnosed with a cystic ovary. She went
in to have it removed. The surgeon removed the wrong one, which was
a perfectly healthy ovary. She had to return a second time to have
the cystic one removed. Because of the surgeon’s error, this woman
can never have children. Bear in mind, this was not her fault, nor
an issue of personal responsibility on her part. This was a
clear-cut case of malpractice, and the responsible parties should
be held fully accountable both criminally and financially. While no
amount of money can possibly fill the void that the surgeon’s error
left in this woman’s life, $250,000 seems paltry considering that
far more has been given to people who have endured a lot less.
Then there is the well-publicized case of Jesica Santillan. This
young lady went to Duke University Medical Center for a heart and
lung transplant. Through circumstances beyond her or her family’s
control, she received organs of the wrong blood type, which caused
her body to reject them. While the threat of rejection is a real
danger in any transplant surgery, in this case bodily rejection may
have been brought on by something totally avoidable. Although she
was given a second operation, Santillan suffered irreversible brain
damage and died. While no amount of money can ever be equivalent to
a human life, a $250,000 cap would be an insult if this case were
ever brought to court.
Reform is a good thing, but it can also be a double-edged sword.
In the quest to right wrongs, the baby must not be thrown out with
the bath water. While some kind of tort reform is needed to prevent
charlatans and thieves from taking advantage of the system, we must
be mindful that not all lawsuits are unnecessary and not all awards
are excessive. Litigation in many cases is the only remedy afforded
to the person who has been legitimately done wrong. If that remedy
is taken away, the consequences could be disastrous. Instead of
seeking remedy through the legal system, wronged parties will seek
remedy outside the law. It goes without saying what that could lead
to.
Tony Odom is a graduate student in the history
department.