Charlatan's Web

This ad at the Drudge Report points to an ad hoc political organization that looks promising, "Doctors for Medical Liability Reform" (DMLR). From the "about" page of their "Protect Patients Now" web site, which is being used to collect signatures for a petition for medical liability reform:

Personal injury lawyers are driving good doctors out of the practice of medicine. Many doctors are cutting back on high-risk services, relocating to states with more patient-friendly liability laws or leaving the practice of medicine altogether. As a result, in many states doctors are harder and harder to find -- especially in specialties such as OB-GYN, neurosurgery and emergency medicine.

Some states have enacted medical liability reform legislation, others have not. The result is a patchwork system that only benefits personal injury lawyers -- at the expense of patients.

The American Medical Association has identified 20 states currently experiencing an access-to-care crisis. Of the remaining states, 24 have the potential to be deemed "in crisis." Only six states are considered stable -- the common denominator is that all of them have instituted some type of medical liability reform.

This sounds good on its face, but this is also the first I've ever heard of this organization. It is not mentioned yet at the web site of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine, but presumably it would support liability reform. I went ahead and signed up for the DLMR update list. and emailed a heads-up to the AFCM on the remote chance this has escaped their notice.

I do have one little quibble as an Objectivist. The Charlatan's Web (first link) cartoon's characterization of the lawyer as "greedy" is completely wrong. "Range-of-the moment" would be far better. These shysters are limiting and further endangering their own access to quality medicine. What good is wealth without the health to enjoy it? How is wrecking the medical system "greedy"?

-- CAV