Voters Turned Victims: Supporting Tort Reform Is Coming Back to Haunt Victims of Med Mal
People in 'tort reform' states, such as Texas and Illinois, are coming to realize their folly. In Texas, tort reform measures were voted on by the public. Insurance companies spent millions to misinform the public, and the public supported the measure. Now, it is coming back to haunt them. Below is an excerpt from the Austin Chronicle:
"Back in 2003, 71-year-old Alvin Berry of Copperas Cove went to the doctor for a routine prostate screening. He was told his antigen levels were elevated, so his doctor referred him to a urologist for a follow-up. The urologist, however, told Berry not to worry. Seven months later, Berry's antigen levels had skyrocketed – he had developed prostate cancer, and it was too late, the cancer had already spread to his bones. He was given five years to live. Unfortunately, reports the consumer-advocacy group Texas Watch, in 2003 Berry had also voted in favor of Proposition 12 – the sweeping "tort reform" package that severely limited the ability of individuals to avail themselves of the legal process and to sue in cases of medical negligence (what tort reformers – read, insurance companies – prefer to call "frivolous lawsuits") – and with its passage, discovered that now he was left without the ability to seek legal redress for his doctor's deadly oversight. 'We'd voted on something,' Berry told Texas Monthly in 2005, 'and we really didn't know what the facts were.'"