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It’s “ITLA Day” in the Illinois House

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Illinois

* The House Democrats have released their witness list for today’s “Committee of the Whole” dealing with tort reform. Not surprisingly, some of the same folks who appear in the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association’s ads on this blog are also scheduled to testify today…

Panel 1
• Jennifer Hill – Mother of Ryan Hill (Illinois)
• Crystal Bobbitt – Mother of Juliann Bobbitt (Indiana)
• Prof. Bernard Black, JD – Professor of Finance and Law,Northwestern University
• Dr. David Hyman, MD, JD – H. Ross and Helen Workman Chair in Law and Professor of Medicine, University of Illinois

Panel 2
• Molly Akers (Illinois)
• Linda Reynolds (Missouri)
• Prof. Bernard Black
• Dr. David Hyman

Panel 3
• Richard Marston – Caregiver and close friend of Len Kulisek (Illinois)
• Frank Krivach – Father of Donald Krivach (Indiana)
• Prof. Bernard Black
• Dr. David Hyman

Panel 4
• Sarah Deatherage – Widow of Trooper Kyle Deatherage (Illinois)
• Elizabeth Sauter – Widow of Trooper James Sauter (Illinois)

Panel 5
• Madlyn Steffey – Mother of Samantha Bellino (Illinois)
• Kim Bermingham – Mother of William Bermingham (Indiana)
• Prof. Bernard Black
• Dr. David Hyman

Panel 6
• Amy Clark – Mother of Timothy Clark (Illinois)

Panel 7
• Prof. Bernard Black
• Dr. David Hyman

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 12:59 pm

Comments

One only needs to look at the Waukegan Harbor or read about dredging the Hudson River..both areas open sewers for unregulated biz wiz’s

Comment by Anonin' Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:05 pm
heavy on victims, low on professionals and those professionals there repeat. that seems like a stacked approach to this issue.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:15 pm
These panels are designed to tell the story of what happens if BVR become successful in the quest to turn IL into West Indiana. Never forget we are the ones who pay for the those injured by sloppy docs and shoddy biz wizs through higher insurance and government med payments

Comment by Anonin' Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:23 pm
Amalie: It is a stacked approach to this issue. No reason to claim otherwise. Rauner has his bully pulpit. Madigan has “his” floor. Each are leveraging what that got.

Comment by walker Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:32 pm
Indiana’insurance rates are much lower than ours in Illinois. Wouldn’t it be just awful if us regular people paid less for auto, home and business insurance and greedy trial lawyers took home less of our money?

Heaven forbid we enact tort reforms like Indiana. Businesses might actually locate in Illinois. And you know what that would lead to….
More jobs
More tax revenue
A stable state government.

But we can’t have that!!!

Comment by A realistic citizen Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:33 pm
Great, another parade of one sided witnesses set up by the oligarchy. I get that we don’t want to strip away protections for people (us), but what the heck is the point of another Madigan circus? Why don’t they spend some time working out issues and coming to agreement.

Comment by Ahoy! Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:34 pm
@ Walker, oh how I yearn for a balanced approach to the subject. I know many wonderful doctors and many wonderful attorneys. it’s just not as red and blue as is portrayed by Rauner and Madigan.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:36 pm
Never forget we are the ones who pay for the those injured by sloppy docs and shoddy biz wizs through higher insurance and government med payments

Yeah, those differences in malpractice insurance rates can really make a difference….

http://www.cunninghamgroupins.com/historic-medical-malpractice-insurance-rates/#!California

vs

http://www.cunninghamgroupins.com/historic-medical-malpractice-insurance-rates/#!Illinois

Also for what it is worth, spoke to a medical malpractice attorney from out of state at a thing and she pointed out more and more medical professionals are just going with out it (self insuring).

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:42 pm
Heaven forbid that public officials in this state might actually have to sit down and listen to someone who disagrees with them on a particular subject.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:49 pm
One man - She does not know what she is talking about. Virtually no hospital in Illinois will allow any physician to be on staff without at least $1,000,000 in malpractice coverage. And for a physician in practice for 5-7 years that can cost between $20,000 to $100,000 per year per doctor. Going with out malpractice insurance in Illinois is finincial suicide.

There are only 2 types of doctors in Illinois. Those that have been sued and those that will be sued.

Comment by A realistic citizen Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:51 pm
One only needs to look at the Waukegan Harbor…

I used to boat out of this harbor. Long live Larson’s Marina and the Waukegan Yacht Club!

Comment by Under Further Review Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:54 pm
==- Ahoy! - Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:34 pm:==

It’s kind of hard to negotiate with a group of people who walkout whenever they don’t get 100% of their way.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/opinion/ct-sta-miller-hardball-st-0506-20150505-column.html

https://capitolfax.com/2015/05/11/inside-the-secretive-working-groups/

Comment by Precinct Captain Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 1:57 pm
Amalia : and I wish he left Giroud in the game and started feeding him more high ones.

This is part of movement toward both tort reform and worker’ comp changes — while preempting the inevitable claims of some that they weren’t fully heard.

Comment by walker Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:14 pm
@ walker, I …can’t… even…. is how I feel about that match yesterday! backing into Champions League. on the plus side, we did have St. Totteringham’s Day last week!

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:32 pm
I was always taught that for good and bad tort law or the tort system is the American way… other nations have far more robust regulatory systems but here in America we leave much of the regulating to the tort system instead of government regulations. The tort system was created as and is the free market alternative to regulatory and government interventions. Do those who holler for tort reform really prefer the European system or are they just trying avoid responsibility for their own actions?

Comment by WAK Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:39 pm
Amalia: LOL

My spouse still doesn’t understand why I have been so cranky all day.

Comment by walker Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:40 pm
A realistic citizen:

7 in 10 OB-GYNs are sued at some point in their career.

for the rest of the doctors, it is about 1 in 3.

Comment by Juvenal Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 2:53 pm
Anyone who is opposed to the widows of two State Troopers sharing their views in this public forum is a bit closed-minded in my opinion.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 3:29 pm
Juvenal -
What would I know….
I only spent 14 years as a full time medical malpractice defense attorney. Trust me. There are only 2 types of doctors in Illinois: those that have been sued and those that will be sued.

This is Illinois. Our primary industry is suing.

Comment by A realistic citizen Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 3:56 pm
ARC, what are you complaining about? As a medical malpractice defense attorney, if they ain’t suing, you ain’t ringing the cash register.

You’re part of the system, just the other side of the coin. Except you get paid upfront.

Another victim heard from, but the sound is “ka-ching.”

Comment by Wordslinger Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 6:14 pm
Looks like I’m the only one who took yesterday well. We had a post-St. Totteringham’s Day let down. However, we are not struggling for the CL for a change and after Jan 2, we were probably the best side in the EPL.

I’m happy with this season. Add a defender (of the back four, I’m really only sold on Bellerin now) and maybe a true defensive midfielder and I think we compete for the double next year (CL and EPL).

Oh, and tort reform only helps bad lawyers. It cuts off damages for people who are seriously injured. If the plaintiff really is not seriously damaged a good defense guy will tear him apart. I know I have.

Comment by Gooner Tuesday, May 12, 15 @ 6:53 pm
Agreed Wordslinger.

ARC, you can start complaining about the high cost of medical malpractice insurance when you reduce your rates. The problem is we have a system that is designed to keep you well fed and in nice suits instead of rewarding hospitals for reducing the massive number of preventable medical injuries that occur each year.

Just as Caterpillar proved that it could reduce workers comp costs on its own by improving workplace safety and reducing injuries by 89 percent, hospitals have the power to reduce their own preventable medical error costs by — wait for it — preventing medical errors.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Wednesday, May 13, 15 @ 8:16 am