Elana Levin

Frivolous Rick Santorum

Bastion of virtue, Sen. Rick Santorum (R- Pa.) has been caught in flagrante with the tort system. He who has voted to cap damages on medical malpractice claims (thereby preventing low and middle income malpractice victims from ever suing) and has called medical malpractice suits "lawsuit abuse" and "the No. 1 health care crisis' in his state has actually benefited from the system himself. Santorum's wife sued a doctor for the sum of $500,000 in 1999 -- twice the amount of his suggested $250,000 cap on damages from pain and suffering.

I suggest Sen. Santorum spend his settlement supporting free legal services to low income victims of medical malpractice. You see, without the possibility of a substantial monetary settlement, few low income victims would be able to find a lawyer to take on their case. So perhaps Santorum's funds could help these families finally get justice for their suffering and losses.

The fight against tort-deform isn't about us calling the Santorums hypocrites for suing or saying that they won too much money. That misses the point entirely. This fight should be about protecting the right to sue for all victims. I don't want that to get lost in the gloating.

Underneath the rhetoric of the Right, "tort reform" is about preventing the powerless from seeking justice against the powerful. Santorum's readiness to court the insurance lobby and screw-over low income people is completely perverse. But I guess he's too busy worrying about "man on dog" to worry about "powerful on powerless".

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Posted at 4:41 PM, Nov 11, 2005 in Health Care | Santorum
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