Yesterday’s article takes a fairly standard attack on tort reform, popularized by some who read this blog. Walter Olson responds:
In any event, consider the centerpiece graphic of the Times piece, which plots the rise of rates and payouts since 1975 based on data from the highly regarded firm of A.M. Best. (I suggest keeping it open in a second window.) If I were trying to get people to believe that there’s no connection between high courtroom payouts and high rates charged for malpractice insurance, I must say this is the very last chart I’d ever let them see, because it tends so strongly to show the two lining up together over the long term.
Opponents of medical malpractice reform make a variety of assertions about the subject in an effort to persuade. But if all of these assertions are true, then trial lawyers are wasting their time lobbying and issuing press releases. They have the power to solve the medical malpractice insurance crisis by themselves—and can make more money doing it.
