Belleville News-Democrat, January 7, 2010

Your recent editorial - Reforms need court's blessing - relies on junk reports that have been discredited and the same talking points used by the insurance lobby.

The so-called "hellhole" designation for Madison and St. Clair counties is given by corporate special interests that do not like the fact that they cannot always dominate the judicial system in Illinois. They want to strip Illinois citizens of their right to receive justice by holding corporate wrongdoers accountable for their actions.

The case before the Illinois Supreme Court is about a little girl named Abigaile LeBron. Her life will be forever altered as a result of the medical errors she encountered during her birth. Caps on noneconomic damages is an unfair, one-size-fits-all approach that does not work to bring down medical malpractice insurance rates.

This law had two parts: caps and insurance reform. Caps have not lowered malpractice rates for doctors. Insurance reform has, by forcing insurance carriers to provide greater transparency on rate setting and payouts. It spurred competition by allowing more companies to enter the marketplace and reduced premiums for doctors.

The answer in fixing our health care situation is insurance reform, not taking away rights from those injured by medical errors. We must hold the insurance industry accountable for a health care system that is spiraling out of control.

It is unfortunate that your paper thinks "reform" means limiting the legal rights of catastrophically injured patients.

Greg Shevlin
3rd Vice President - Illinois Trial Lawyers Association
Belleville