Medical malpractice system supporters held a conference call today to try to get a jump on fighting off a major attack by the Bush administration.[@@]
Bush is scheduled to unveil plans to change the laws governing class-action suits and medical malpractice suits Wednesday in Collinsville, Ill. Collinsville is in Madison County, a jurisdiction recently identified as a "judicial hellhole" for asbestos claims and malpractice suits by the American Tort Reform Association, Washington.
In addition to trial lawyers and representatives for consumer groups, conference call participants included Jay Angoff, who was director of the Missouri Department of Insurance from 1993 to 1998, and Rep. Janice Schakowsky, D-Ill.
Schakowsky blamed skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance rates in Illinois on weak regulatory oversight.
Angoff cited the insurance industry's large surplus as evidence that insurers are thriving under the current rules.
