ATRA Paper Defends Constitutionality of Federal Medical Liability Reform

The American Tort Reform Association has issued a 7 page paper that its president says “makes a clear case that the legislation passes constitutional muster.”  You can access the text of the paper here. 

I have commented on the med mal reform bill before Congress here, here, here, here and here and it should be clear that the real question regarding the bill is not its constitutionality. 

The problem with the bill is not whether it is constitutional.  The problem with the bill is that it is unnecessary, unfair and that it advances bad public policy which does nothing to promote better quality or less expensive health care. 

For ample discussion of the real issues related to medical malpractice reform go to my section on medical malpractice (here), scroll down and read the many comments, papers and studies discussed there.  Among others, you will find articles that argue that med mal reform will increase the deficit, articles that describe the results of similar reforms at the state level and articles that show that med mal reforms have not proved to provide many improvements as it relates to liability costs.