DesMoinesRegister.com: "As many letter writers have pointed out, the Iowa Code protects medical practitioners from frivolous lawsuits. As the Register points out, malpractice premiums are a small percentage of medical overhead.

Moreover, insurance companies have not reduced premiums where caps have been established by legislation.

It is revealing that John Abramson, M.D., writes in his book, 'Overdosed America, The Broken Promise of American Medicine,' that a 2002 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported, '59 percent of the experts who write the clinical guidelines that define good medical care (the standard to which doctors are often held in malpractice suits) have direct financial ties to the companies whose products are being evaluated.'

It seems the cards are already stacked in favor of the medical professionals who are vociferously seeking tort reform to further isolate responsibility and accountability.

-Steven R. Hull,
Clive."