Consumer Groups Urge Legislature To Investigate Insurance Industry

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2004
Contact: Paul R. Lyon, Executive Director of The Committee for Justice for All , at (570) 574-3089

The following is a statement by Paul R. Lyon, Executive Director of The Committee for Justice for All , regarding the vote early Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Senate in favor of a constitutional amendment limiting non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases.

“It is a sad day for our civil justice system and the rights of all Pennsylvanians, especially victims of malpractice. It is unconscionable that a majority of our senators voted to limit patients’ rights without even having the information necessary to support such a grave and sweeping decision. As a bipartisan group of Erie County doctors and lawyers recently found, there is ‘an extraordinary lack of credible information’ to support the contention that lawsuits are the problem and caps are the solution. This problem is not going to go away with the passage of caps, as evidenced by the experience of other caps states. If legislators are serious about fixing this problem, they need to institute stringent regulation of the insurance industry and establish programs to eliminate the tens of thousands of needless deaths and injuries every year due to preventable medical errors.”