ThePopTort

Caps Harm Nebraska – It’s Never Too Late

Wanna know how long ago 1976 was?  For the first three months of that year, Apple Computer Inc. didn’t even exist. Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne started Apple on April 1, 1976 to sell the Apple I personal computer kit, pictured here.  That’s how long ago 1976 was.

Imagine if what we knew in 1976 was the way it would be forever.  Hard to imagine, except if you happen to be a patient living in Nebraska who has experienced severe medical negligence.  In 1976, Nebraska legislators were pressured by the state’s insurance and medical lobbyists to enact a draconian “cap” on compensation for patients.  This is not just any kind of cap.  This cap limits even what families can get to cover a lifetime of medical and out of pocket expenses to take care of a catastrophically-injured child.  So these children end up on Medicaid, and you (Nebraska tax-payer), end up paying for damage caused by a reckless health care provider.

The cruel impact of this cap on one family – the Gourley’s - was illustrated in the documentary film Hot Coffee, which we’ve covered often at ThePopTort (e.g., here, here).  The Gourley’s are an awe-inspiring family (e.g. here, here) and the Center for Justice & Democracy has helped them with a new project called Caps Harm Nebraska, to educate the public about this cap. Here’s their new Facebook page, which is a great way to learn more and to help. 

Back in 1976, Nebraska legislators may not have realized the cruel impact of a cap like this.  They may not have understood the burdens it would place on Nebraska taxpayers.  They may not have known about the cyclical nature of insurance rates, which go up and down irrespective of a state’s “tort” law.  That’s OK.  As Steve Jobs would tell you, we’ve learned a lot since 1976.  We hope Nebraska lawmakers take a second look at this.  It’s only 2011 – it’s not too late.

Huff Post Re-Post: Medical Malpractice - The Tragic Human Price Tag of "Tort Reform" (Raw and Unedited)

This is a re-post from The Huffington Post.

Lisa Gourley has had her share of hardships. Her son Colin was born with severe brain damage due to a doctor's negligence. But because Nebraska has a Draconian "cap" on compensation for all injured patients (i.e., "tort reform"), her family never received the compensation needed to take care of Colin. She bravely challenged the constitutionality of this law, taking her case all the way to the Nebraska Supreme Court. Unfortunately, in 2003 the Court sided against her and upheld this cap.

Now, she has to read stories like this one, that omits entirely any mention of the price so-called "tort reform" has on actual patients, hundreds of thousands of whom are injured by medical malpractice each year - many involving catastrophically-injured children like Colin. Lisa wrote to the reporter and with her permission, I'm re-posting her letter - raw, unedited, brutally honest and straight from the heart.

Joe,

Interesting enough there was not one interview of a victim in your article.... I sure hope that you or nobody in your family ever is faced with the horrible ramifications of medical malpractice because at the rate this country is headed there will be little to NO remedy for the injured person. I wish you would have at least taken the time to talk to a person who was actually affected by medical malpractice.

My son suffered a catastrophic brain injury due to a doctor's negligence. Colin struggles every day with walking, talking and cognitive thinking. He will never be able to work a job to provide an income for himself. He will never live the life his identical twin brother has because of this negligence. The doctor was found negligent and Colin was compensated $1.25 million dollars to pay for his projected medical expenses of $12.4 million, lost wages and the pain and suffering he endures everyday of his life. That is hardly fair.

After my husband lost his job, two years ago and we lost our health care coverage because we couldn't afford $1,700 a month for the cobra insurance, Colin now relies on Medicaid and the Nebraska Medically Handicap Children's program to pay for ALL of his care. Yes, the TAXPAYERS and our family is paying for the majority of this negligence not the doctor and insurance company. Somehow this just isn't fair....

In 1999, when the doctor was found negligent the excess liability fund had $63 million dollars, it had paid out $4 million in claims and had earned $10 million dollars in interest. They could have easily paid the claim to our son and not left the financial burden on our family and the taxpayers but because of the horrible law here in Nebraska, the medical community and insurance companies are getting financial bailout. This is hardly the ideal system that should be looked at for the rest -of the country. I would be happy to talk with you further and give you insight from a victim's point of view.

Lisa Gourley Omaha, NE

Another GM/Chrysler “Bankruptcy Loophole” Update

As promised, we’re continuing to follow the Chrysler/GM bankruptcies (and in particular, developments involving the “bankruptcy loopholes” which effectively immunize both companies from lawsuits should defects in the “old” pre-bankruptcy Chrysler GM/vehicles injure or kill people).  Here are some notable press items from the past few days…

Attorneys General from Connecticut, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Vermont, and West Virginia are standing up for injured consumers, filing objections to the GM bankruptcy last Friday (here, here, here, here).

We hear that other states' AG’s will be coming in to raise similar objections soon.

The Detroit News adds to the ever-growing list of heart wrenching tales about Chrysler/GM defect victims, profiling 20-year-old former athlete, Stevie Beale, who was paralyzed from the waist down due to a faulty seatbelt design in her Pontiac Bonneville.

Lynn LoPucki, a professor and bankruptcy expert at UCLA Law School, who is quoted in the article, said, "They should assume liability for their cars. Instead, they give people a very good reason to not buy their cars”

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Macon Telegraph both tell the tragic story Nell and Jimmie Davis whose Jeep Cherokee flipped over, crushing the (defective) roof of the vehicle, and killing Jimmie just eight days before the couple’s 48th wedding anniversary.  Nell sued Chrysler, but like so many others, her case is unlikely to go anywhere. “They got all their taxpayer bailout money and now they’re not responsible for anything?” she said.