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Matt Telles wrote:

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/08/02/gvl10802.htm

Washington -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's choice of 
Sen. John Edwards (D, N.C.) as his running mate has generated a 
commotion in the physician community. The reason: Edwards' reputation as 
a trial lawyer is built largely on medical malpractice lawsuits.

The reaction has ranged from aghast to unfazed and everything in between.

"Doctors are going to panic when they think about a trial lawyer who has 
sued a doctor and won being near the White House," said Kerry supporter 
Julie Graves Moy, MD, a family physician in Austin, Texas.

One doctor reader wrote AMNews, "It is hard for me to imagine someone 
who could turn back the clock and oppose [doctors'] fight for tort 
reform more than John Edwards."

It is not surprising that many physicians are wary about Edwards, who 
has a history of successfully trying more than 60 medical malpractice 
cases, winning in excess of $1 million in more than half of those.

While the American Medical Association does not take a position on 
elections, the organization has marked liability reform as a top 
legislative priority.

The AMA believes that liability reform, including a cap on noneconomic 
damages, "will provide patients with greater access to care by 
stabilizing skyrocketing medical liability insurance premiums," 
according to a statement. But physicians should actively support the 
candidate of their choice, the statement continues.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=%5CPolitics%5Carchive%5C200401%5CPOL20040120a.html

Edwards' trial summaries "routinely went beyond a recitation of his case 
to a heart-wrenching plea to jurors to listen to the unspoken voices of 
injured children," according to a comprehensive analysis of Edwards' 
legal career by The Boston Globe in 2003.

'I have to tell you right now -- I didn't plan to talk about this -- 
right now I feel her (Jennifer), I feel her presence,' Edwards told the 
jury according to court records. "[Jennifer's] inside me and she's 
talking to you ... And this is what she says to you. She says, 'I don't 
ask for your pity. What I ask for is your strength. And I don't ask for 
your sympathy, but I do ask for your courage.'"

Peter Huber, a lawyer and author of the book, Galileo's Revenge: Junk 
Science in the Courtroom, believes juries are typically manipulated with 
emotional arguments to aid the plaintiff's case.

Olson said lawsuits blaming obstetricians for cerebral palsy and other 
infant brain damage "may constitute the single biggest branch of medical 
malpractice litigation." Cerebral palsy is diagnosed in about 8,000 
infants annually in the U.S.

But the recent scientific studies may make those lawsuits 
"scientifically unfounded," Olson explained. He contends that the 
medical malpractice suits that enabled Edwards and other trial lawyers 
to become rich and famous are crippling medical specialties like 
obstetrics, emergency room medicine and neurosurgery.

"A few years ago every neurosurgeon in Washington D.C., had been sued, 
and it can't be because the nation's capital gets only bad 
neurosurgeons. It's because it's too tempting to file against the 
competent ones because so many terrible things go wrong with their 
patients," Olson added.

Edwards, who opposes legislation that would cap damages in liability 
lawsuits, would not respond to repeated requests through his campaign 
offices for comment.


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