Fri, 08 Dec 2006

Evidence, Schmevidence, Says the Ralph Nader of the Tobacco Industry

Sometimes people say the most amazing things. When a doctor pointed out the difficulties of such suits, John Banzhaf, president of Action on Smoking and Health, responded:

To survive the initial motion to dismiss – where the defendant asks the court to throw out the law suit so that defendant (and his insurance company) will not be put to the burden of defending it – the judge must assumes all allegations in the legal complaint are true unless they are clearly impossible on their face. Thus a judge would refuse to dismiss any law suit which alleged that the plaintiff would have quit if the physician had warned him to do so, even if such a proposition were clearly against the great weight of evidence. This refusal to grant the motion opens the door to pre-trial discovery – including depositions, demands for the physician’s time, documents, and records, etc. – places a blot on his record, and perhaps interferes with his ability to obtain malpractice coverage at favorable rates. That threat alone may motivate many physicians (and their medical organizations and insurance companies) to settle or – better yet – to follow the guidelines next time.

I wonder if this clown realizes what he just said: he is clearly and publicly advocating lawsuits as instruments of extortion. And expounding on a legal way to get away with it. But I suppose that if the end justifies the means, that's perfectly OK.

Gag me.

An article in the journal Tobacco Control suggests suing doctors for failing to nag patients who smoke about quitting. Noting that the U.S. Public Health Service has issued "Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence Clinical Practice Guidelines" that recommend informing patients about the health risks of smoking and steering them toward "effective and inexpensive treatments for nicotine addiction," the authors argue that doctors who don't comply with these guidelines could successfully be sued for malpractice.

(link) [Reason Magazine: Hit & Run]

via Overlawyered

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