"Lambruschi has worked at his West Dundee practice for 22 years, and within a one-year period his insurance premiums rose almost 30 percent, he said. Lambruschi said his practice was sued three times in those 22 years, and none of the lawsuits went to trial."

That sounds like a problem with how insurers rate their insureds.

Why are you so quick to complain about hyperbole from the other side but at the same time so quick to utilize it yourself?

"What comes close to amounting to stealing"? Yes, people with devastating injuries who get money to pay their medical expenses and to compensate for the fact that they've lost their quality of life are just like theives.

Frivolous lawsuits are nearly tantamount to stealing by the increases they cause in malpractice insurance.

However, even if you don't agree that frivolous lawsuits cause malpractice increases, the medmal lawyer quoted in this piece is a terrible, albeit probably fairly typical, example of the entire profession. I'll recite his statement again, just because it's so ridiculous --

"If [high premiums] mean a doctor who is making $1 million [a year] now makes $700,000, does that mean he has to leave the state?"

That's all well and good, but this legislation affects all med mal suits, not just the frivolous ones. Anonymous, until you can tell me how much your insurer received in premiums over the last ten years, how much it paid out, what its overhead is, its return on investments, etc., then you probably aren't able to speak intelligently on the causes of malpractice rate increases.

The attorney in question is probably using hyperbole to expose the ridiculousness of the physicians' "I'm going broke" claim. Which is almost as silly as the "physicians are fleeing" claim. If you think ridiculous rhetoric is limited to one side of the debate, then you've not been paying very close attention.

Madhouse, I realize you feel like you're in the crosshairs, but I think that your perception and the reality may be different things. Those people like that little boy in the story above this one didn't go to the hospital to get horribly burned, did they? Or the people who get operated on and injured by a surgeon who is abusing drugs didn't go to the hospital for that, did they?

You're not the only victim.

Nate, here's a couple of articles on that subject. I sent them to Kevin for general posting. The AMA crisis map is about as useful as an ATLA non-crisis map. They are lobbying organizations, not research facilities:

http://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/east/2005/05/09/features/55085

http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050514/NEWS/505140390/1002/NEWS01

It doesn't appear we have a disagreement here. At least that is was I'm reading. Maybe I'm missing something.

As for my blog, I just didn't have the time. I mostly post when I'm on the phone, and with a baby don't have time for lengthy cogent thoughts.

What? Curious JD has a baby? Congratulations! Where are the photos??