Vested Interest - July 2005 Issue

The President’s Thoughts

Now, more than ever, this organization needs to be strong, as our clients’ rights are under a strong attack. During the last two weeks ITLA, joined by Illinois AFL-CIO, Citizen Action/Illinois, Illinois State Conference NAACP, Center for Justice & Democracy, Victims & Families United and Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans, signed on to newspaper ads throughout the state urging the Governor to veto SB 475. It is not too late for you to write to the Governor and the media to send the same message.

And our message is starting to hit home. Editorials in two influential newspapers, The Daily Southtown and Pioneer Press, have also called for a veto of SB 475 because it caps damages.

As an organization, we are faced with issues that are far from simple, including the upcoming election cycle and long-term planning. There are no easy or simple solutions. The Executive Committee has had several meetings since June 3 to continue the process of analyzing and implementing strategies to confront those issues. You will be kept informed.

I often hear people ask, "what is ITLA doing about . . .?" But who really is "ITLA"? We are an organization comprised of 2,200 individual smart, talented, and determined trial lawyers who are standing together to preserve our clients’ right to trial by jury. So, reality is that each and every one of us "is ITLA," and each and every one of us should ask, "what am I doing?"

We can show up at events such as town hall meetings to tell the real story about the civil justice system. Recently, the Chamber of Commerce announced a town hall meeting in Deerfield to trash lawyers. But some of our members, both from Deerfield and other areas, showed up, some with their clients. They turned the meeting into a forum for the truth, which effectively thwarted the Chamber’s agenda. And why not call your own town hall meeting?

We can diligently read editorials, op-eds, and letters to the editor in the print media and respond to the arguments for taking away our clients’ rights. Our op-eds and letters don’t always get published, but by sheer numbers, if enough are written and sent, some will. Each one has the potential for impacting many readers. For some recent talking points on medical malpractice, an article in Crain’s Chicago Business reported how the top 25 hospitals in the Chicago area had huge profit increases in 2004. Another is that our elected officials in Springfield chose to do nothing this year to prevent medical errors, but instead passed a law to take away the rights of patients who are injured by those errors. Another is that to this day ISMIE still won’t promise that it will reduce premiums. Many other talking points on our issues are available from the ITLA office.

You can support our friends in the legislature. As for how we should define a friend, John F. Kennedy once said: "A man does what he must in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers, and this is the basis of all human morality." Many of you have been there to support our friends who have already had fundraisers this summer. Please continue to do so throughout this election cycle.

What you are about to read may sound all too familiar.

"[There is] a problem of such massive proportion that it presents a clear and present crisis to the welfare of the people of the State of Illinois: the complex of problems created by the recent burgeoning of medical malpractice litigation and the continuing spiral of resulting damage awards. . . One dimension of the healthcare crisis in Illinois is the disproportionate rise in medical malpractice claims and the attendant rise in the medical malpractice insurance premium rates. The related rise in claims and insurance rates, quite simply, and equally catastrophically, places the flow of healthcare services in serious jeopardy. . . The present situation reduced to its stark fundamentals means that a consistent source of reasonably priced healthcare is in immediate, serious jeopardy. . . If the present rate of litigation and insurance rate increases were to continue, in the near term the healthcare professions and institutions face the very real possibility of not being able to obtain malpractice insurance at any cost. The effect of

this void in insurance coverage will necessarily be an equally proportionate decrease in the availability of quality healthcare. . . The ultimate rub is that all of these spiraling costs are borne by the average healthcare consumer, and the "costs" may well go beyond mere dollars and cents. The potential for drastic reduction and availability of healthcare may well be the final "cost" to be borne by the people of the State of Illinois. . . The standards imposed pursuant to [this legislation] by which a ceiling of $500,000 was placed on claims of any kind arising from injuries sustained by reason of medical or other healing art malpractice is a response to a problem which is having a direct effect on all who seek healthcare in this State. . . The General Assembly drew the classification with the intent of solving a problem it perceived in the area of public welfare – the increased frequency and social costs of medical malpractice litigation. . . The classification, a legislative one, between malpractice claimants and other tort claimants is based on a legislative decision that the public welfare is in serious jeopardy. . ."

From a business-friendly newspaper last month? No. These are quotes from the amicus brief of the Illinois State Medical Society filed in the case of Wright v. Central DuPage Hospital in 1976. In 1975, a legislature controlled by Democrats, passed legislation which garnered 137 votes out of 169 votes cast in the House and 45 out of 50 votes cast in the Senate. It was signed into law by a Democratic governor . The arguments of the Medical Society were rejected by the Supreme Court when it held that caps on damages in medical malpractice cases were unconstitutional. The same Constitution we have today . . . .

Keith A. Hebeisen, President
Illinois Trial Lawyers Association