Your voice and the voice of those in your network are needed now on behalf of many victims of medical malpractice — some of whom cannot speak up.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Senate is expected to vote on legislation that would cap at $250,000 "pain and suffering"
damage awards for those who have been injured - or even killed - as a result of medical
negligence. Such awards compensate people for pain and suffering they endure resulting from the negligent act.
Your efforts last year helped defeat similar anti-patient legislation. The insurance, HMO, drug industry and doctors'
lobbies are determined to escape responsibility for their wrongdoing by blaming the temporary
spike in some doctors' medical malpractice insurance premiums on people who have already been victimized by negligence.
Scapegoating of victims and their families is rotten. It's greedy. And it's inhumane. Let each of us stand up to
convince our senators to adopt laws that prevent medical errors -- not prevent victims who have
suffered serious injuries from seeking needed relief our society owes them.
Opinion pages all across the country have editorialized against this legislation, including BusinessWeek and scores
of daily newspapers.
But it's your voice that is needed now on behalf of many who cannot speak up. To urge your senators to oppose
this bill, click here: http://www.citizen.org/fax/background.cfm?ID=125&source=15
Thank you.
Public Citizen