Wisconsin - Urgent Legislative Issue-cap damages in medical malpractice

[rodeodance]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Wisconsin - Urgent Legislative Issue
Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2006 10:40:12 -0500 (EST)
From: Kristin Keckeisen <[e-mail]>
To: xxx





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Dearxxx,

Today the Wisconsin State Senate is taking up a bill that will cap damages in medical malpractice cases for the most severely injured patients. We are urging you to call your Senators immediately, asking them to oppose this anti-consumer and discriminatory legislation.

To reach Senators, call the Legislative Hotline, 1-800-362-9472. (In Madison, call 266-9960.) Legislative contact information can be found at:

Wisconsin State Legislative Directory

Please send a message that all Wisconsin citizens are entitled to equal justice under the law. Tell Senators this cap will prevent severely injured patients from receiving fair compensation for their substantial loss. It won't fix the insurance problem.

Below are additional talking points:

1. A $750,000 Cap Won't Lower Health Care Costs

Malpractice costs in Wisconsin are only 40 cents out of every $100 dollars spent on health care. Experience with states that have adopted caps on recovery shows there is virtually no impact on health care costs or on doctors' insurance premiums.

2. Caps Harm the Most Severely Injured - the Permanently and Catastrophically Disabled

While having no impact on health care or insurance costs, caps on recovery do have a tremendously negative and unfair impact on severely injured patients, those with legitimate medical malpractice claims. Caps on noneconomic damages have a disproportionately negative impact on women, minorities, the poor, the young, the elderly, and those who don't work outside the home. Injuries resulting in loss of sight, disfigurement, the inability to bear children, loss of senses, excruciating lifelong pain, or the loss of a limb, for example, cannot be measured in terms of lost wages or other economic calculations, but such injuries lead to genuine suffering which should be compensated.

3. Caps Are Fundamentally Unfair

Caps seek to "fix" the civil justice system at the sole expense of those most seriously injured. That is neither fair nor equitable. A person whose noneconomic damages are $750,000 or less recovers 100 percent of his or her noneconomic loss. Those whose injuries exceed the cap receive but a fraction. That is fundamentally unfair.

4. Caps Interfere with a Jury's Right to Determine Damages

Every Wisconsin citizen is guaranteed a right to a trial by jury under the Wisconsin Constitution. The jury is broadly granted the right to determine all damages. The cap on noneconomic damages violates the damage-finding function of the jury. In other words, caps impinge on the juror's constitutional mandate to do justice in an individual case.

Please take the time to call today.

Sincerely,

Kristin Keckeisen
Campaign Manager, People Over Profits