Consistent with the position taken by the governor on all matters "tort reform," and the truth notwithstanding, please note that Haley Barbour's new 'my tort reform' TV commercial includes an AP release, declaring a medical malpractice 'crisis,'that is dated July 11, 2002. Last time I checked, Barbour came into office in 2004. Democratic Governor Musgrove's special session that addressed medical liability issues was in 2002. Barbour's special session gave immunities to big corporations like tobacco companies and merely tweaked the medical malpractice groundwork laid by Musgrove TWO YEARS previously.
It's kind of weird that "Dr. Kevin Galloway" has a little testimonial on the Governor's website. He is careful not to mention the actual schools where he received his Doctor of Osteopathy degree -- "After earning a degree in Texas, his medical degree in Chicago, interning and residency at Tulane and in Detroit, he returned home to Jackson, Mississippi."
He was licensed in the state of Mississippi in 2001, the same year Barbour claims doctors were leaving the state in droves.
Here is what the testimonial says: "How close was I to leaving? I had signed contracts in my hands that I hadn't mailed yet. I had called the moving trucks to see how long it would take to load equipment and move. I had flown out there to look for houses." Dr. Kevin Galloway, the OB-GYN featured in the latest Barbour for Governor campaign commercial, describes the desperate times before Governor Haley Barbour signed the sweeping 2004 Tort Reform Act. (You mean that 82-day special session didn't accomplish a thing?) Dr. Galloway says the out of control lawsuits, the outrageous malpractice insurance rates, and the atmosphere of legal threats nearly pushed him to abandon his practice in Mississippi. "I had calls from Arizona, Nevada, California, with money on the table. Have you seen the Western mountains? Beautiful. In Mississippi, we were at war. Lawyers turned patients against their doctors. Doctors threatened not to treat lawyers. I began to wonder why I shouldn't move."
So, maybe he was in some kind of time warp or is just naturally behind the times. Most of the med mal issues had been adequately (and severely) addressed in 2002. I'd say I just don't get it, but we all know what the deal is here, doc. If you're as smart a man as your degree claims you to be, you know it too.
They take away my ability to receive proper damages for malpractice, malpractice insurance goes down, but my health care insurance premiums and healthcare costs are still rising? Why? Does anyone else think the real losers here are mississippians? Hopefully, in November Haley will be the big loser!
ReplyDeleteI watched part of that news conference yesterday. I don't see how those doctors could stand there with a straight face and claim that it is a good thing for their premiums to go down when every other aspect of health care costs to the patient are skyrocketing. Not one of them said that they were going to try to address that issue.
ReplyDeleteIt was really a sobering reality check for me. It really is all about the money, isn't it?
Wow!! John, I cannot believe that you know so much about Dr. Galloway and his practice. Is your name Dr. John Leek? Call MMA and get the real scoop. Your ignorance on the matter is quite funny and you need to do some more reading on the facts rather than the person, but personally attacking someone is not the way to make up for it. Do you pay malpractice premiums? Do you have any idea about how out of control they were before Haley? Do you even know how much they have dropped ? Did you watch the news yesterday? Yes, another drop in rates for malpractice again. How can you go to bed at night knowing the terrible crap you come up with? It is not secret about the close connection with you , Eaves, and Franks. By the way things are looking, they need all the, so called help they can get. But keep doing what you do. Helping Eaves with his half ass low blows only strengthens Haley’s push for 4 more.
ReplyDeleteDr. Leek,
ReplyDeleteI must address you as Dr. because you seem to know so much about the legality involved with being a man of medicine.
Your ignorance on the matter is quite funny and you need to do some more reading on the facts rather than the person, but personally attacking someone is not the way to make up for it. Do you pay malpractice premiums? Do you have any idea about how out of control they were before Haley? Do you even know how much they have dropped ? Did you watch the news yesterday? Yes, another drop in rates for malpractice again. How can you go to bed at night knowing the terrible crap you come up with? It is not secret about the close connection with you , Eaves, and Franks. By the way things are looking, they need all the, so called help they can get. But keep doing what you do. Helping Eaves with his half ass low blows only strengthens Haley’s push for 4 more.
Anonymous 2&3 -
ReplyDelete"Do you know how out of control they were before Haley?"
I guess we could take this near God thing to a new level with B.H. and A.D.
Legislation to address insurance was passed 2 years previous to "Holy Haley" taking office.
Other than that I don't see you actually refuting anything that was said.
I have family in medical school. The malpractice premiums ARE a big deal--among other things, they're causing the OB/GYN shortage which would seem, to an observer, to be the obvious cause of our high infant mortality rate. OB/GYNs pay the highest malpractice premiums of any specialty, and they're the most vulnerable to lawsuits.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons I suppose I could never be a loyal Democrat is that I'd have to pretend that this ad isn't good when it is, and pretend that the Eaves school prayer and immigrant-bashing ads are good when they aren't.
There were 2 reforms passed and the 2nd one hit home.
ReplyDeleteWhat? Haley Barbour misrepresenting himself in a political ad? Surely not.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching him try to wreck our public schools by holding back funding (that was mandated by law), I can only hearken back to the ads of Haley in a one room schoolhouse during his first run. He is a great politican, but also a liar and deceiver. Most of our electorate falls for these ploys.
We need a man with the political savvy of Haley and the vison of William Winter to lead this state.
The 2003 legislation was weak and full of loop holes. It was an election year ploy.
ReplyDeleteCan you cite the differences between the 03 and 04 legislation? You ought to look it up.
Save the pity party for the doctors, please. Mississippi has the highest hospital error rate in the country. And the survivors of the dead and the injured have no way of being made whole again thanks to tort reform. What about them? They don't give a damn about medmal premiums.
ReplyDeletestinger - you believe a lawsuit can make someone whole after losing a loved one? is it the money or the punishment that fills that hole in the heart?
ReplyDeleteI personally enjoy all of the ads of how all of the current politicians tackled the tort reform problem when taking office.
ReplyDeleteThe worst thing in Mississippi are trial lawyers. Not the ridiculous poverty, the crime that has overtaken the capitol city, bearing the 8th highest tax burden of any state in the nation, being the 50th state in education, being the fattest state and still having a flag from 1865 that does not do a good job attracting businesses.
The only thing tort reform does is allow doctors to make more money.
How much cheaper is it to go to a doctor today than it was 4 years ago? The answer is it is not at all cheaper.
Keep padding the doctor's pockets by allowing them to keep some money for malpractice insurance and they will pass along the savings to their patients.
HAHAHA
To many doctors can't practice their love...The love of making money
Why the salm at the good dr's alma mater. It has been granting degrees for over 100 years and in case you weren't aware a degree in osteopathy is accepted across the US as equal to that of an MD. It's a fact.
ReplyDeleteThe reality is there is no medical malpractice "crisis" in Mississippi. There never was. The statistics show that nationally doctors, as well as those in Mississippi, average paying around 4 percent of their gross income on medical malpractice premiums, just a few tenths of a percent LESS than they pay for their cars. This is and was a fiction created by the insurance industry.
ReplyDeleteWhat REALLY should happen in Mississippi is what happened in Tennessee just a couple of years ago: FORCE the medical malpractice insurers in the state to report the real information on lawsuit payouts, including the money they pay to the corporate lawyers that represent the doctors, to the Mississippi Department of Insurance. Now that we have finally rid ourselves of George Dale, maybe that will happen (talk about the Fox guarding the Hen House). IF they did that, the truth would come to light, namely that there is no "crisis" and doctors are not leaving the state.
In fact, nationally, and Mississippi is no different, we have more doctors than ever. It is true that Sandy Hook, Mississippi does not have one single neurosurgeon or Ob-GYN, but that is a matter of ECONOMIC choice from the doctor, not malpractice problems. Doctors, like EVERY BUSINESS, go where large population bases can support their trade, i.e., Jackson, the Coast, Oxford-Tupelo, and the metropolitan Memphis area.
EVERY state claims that doctors are leaving, not just Mississippi. I ask any sensible person to simply consider this: if they are leaving in AR, MS, TN, AL, FL, TX, CA, etc. (which the state medical associations in all of those states, and more, claim is happening), then WHERE are they going, Mars?
I beg everyone to simply open their eyes to this matter. It is nothing more than a creation of the insurance industry to gain control of the common law jury. After all, they have Haley Barbour and a majority of the Mississippi legislature in their hip pockets, now if they could completely control the jurors who can punish wrongdoers nothing will be left in the way of their "bottom line."
Last thought: when these moneychangers (I am not a fan of Eaves, but he is right about calling Barbour and his "ilk" moneychangers) claim to be doing YOU a favor by TAKING AWAY your rights, i.e., the common law jury (something fought for in the Anglo-American tradition since the 16th Century), you must ask yourself the question of why you should allow someone to take away your freedoms. It's insanity.