DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. — President Bush decried "junk lawsuits" and "the litigation culture" Thursday in an impassioned plea for limits on medical malpractice liability -- a cause he has promoted heavily in the closing days of his reelection campaign, even though voters rarely cite it as a major concern.
Bush's pitch, usually coupled with a lament about maternity wards forced to shut down and obstetricians forced out of practice because of high insurance bills, serves at least three political goals.
It helps him appeal to women. It counters Democratic challenger John F. Kerry's arguments for government spending to expand access to health insurance. And, much as Democrats like to tie the president to his previous career in the oil industry, Bush's anti-litigation stance reminds voters that Kerry's vice presidential running mate, Sen. John Edwards, was a trial lawyer before he came to Washington.
"You cannot be pro-doctor, pro-patient and pro-personal injury lawyer at the same time," Bush said in Hershey, Pa., echoing a speech he gave hours earlier in Downington, near Philadelphia. "You have to make a choice. My opponent put a personal injury lawyer on the ticket. I'm standing with doctors. I'm standing with patients. I'm standing with the people of Pennsylvania. I'm for medical malpractice reform -- now!"
Findings from a variety of analysts suggest that some of the president's concerns are overstated. Some say malpractice costs account for a small fraction of overall healthcare spending in the United States -- less than 2%, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported in January.
Also, although independent analysts have concluded that malpractice lawsuits are a significant factor behind rising insurance premiums for doctors, they are not the only one.
And even the most ardent advocates of caps on lawsuit damages acknowledge that the type of suits that Bush condemns are costly for law firms to pursue and therefore uncommon.
"There is no question that it is very rare that frivolous suits are brought against doctors. They are too expensive to bring," said Victor Schwartz, a Washington lawyer and authority on tort law who is also general counsel to the American Tort Reform Assn.
Polls have shown that voters rate many issues, from Iraq to the economy, as far more important than tort reform, a topic that barely resonates in surveys.
