In 2003, the lawyers fought fiercely with the doctors and their insurance companies over legislation that would keep the lawyers from suing the doctors and their insurance companies, or at least from suing them so often and for so much. The doctors’ side prevailed at the time, the state legislature strongly approving their bill. Five years later, all is not calm. The lawyers keep hacking away at the legislation in court, with considerable success, even though some of them say that the bill never had as much impact as its backers intended. The doctors say the bill had a great and beneficial impact until the Arkansas Supreme Court began mucking it up. The two sides agree only that much still remains to be resolved. From the record so far, it appears the doctors own the legislative branch of government, the lawyers have the judiciary, and the executive branch is lying low. Act 649 of 2003 was the so-called “tort reform” bill. It aided corporate defendants as well as doctors, but the bill’s proponents liked to keep the doctors out front, in the interest of public relations. (Equally aware of the medical profession’s generally favorable reputation, plaintiffs’ lawyers in malpractice cases like to say they’re not really suing doctors, they’re suing insurance companies. Defense lawyers in malpractice cases, while paid by insurance companies, like to say that they’re really defending doctors.)
Please click on the link below to read the complete Arkansas Times article:
http://www.arktimes.com/Articles/ArticleViewer.aspx?ArticleID=a26a0bf1-aca7-4198-b6a6-f2e312537af6
The Citron Law Firm, P.A. (www.citronlegal.com) is a civil trial practice law firm that specializes in professional liability and injury cases, commercial and real estate litigation and family law matters. The Citron Law Firm is located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at 707 S.E. Third Avenue, Sixth Floor – (954) 712-1686.
