The question Mr. Friedman does not ask is: “Are doctors, lawyers and corporations harming people?” The answer is yes. And all three have miserably failed to voluntarily regulate themselves by acronym (NTLA, ABA, AMA, NASD, etc.). After all, the main cause of medical malpractice claims is medical malpractice.

I'll bet if we immediately disbarred the worst 10 percent of all lawyers (an arbitrary number like 10 percent is just as good as a $250,000 cap, isn't it?), and took away the credentials of the worst 10 percent of all doctors, we would notice a huge difference in the tort system.

Thanks again for asking some great questions.

Gary Duell, ChFC
Happy Valley, Ore.

To The Editor:

I just finished reading Sam Friedman's March 17 column broaching the subject of tort reform. Since I live and work in Mississippi and this is a very important issue at this time for our state, I wanted to thank Mr. Friedman for bringing questions to light that many citizens of our state have.

Being an insurance agent, I admit I first thought that tort reforms limiting excessive punitive damage awards would be great for our business community. I also read “The King of Torts,” and had the same questions Mr. Friedman raised about the actual guilty parties in these class action suits.

I agree that the defendants usually are not completely guilt-free, but at the same time all are not equally guilty, or guilty to the highest degree imaginable. I hope when all is said and done, our legislators will find some common ground and agree that damages will not be equal, nor should awards be equal.

For those who think that they can just ignore public health and safety because the numbers-crunchers feel the “cap” is an acceptable risk, I, too, feel that their punishment should be greater. I am going to copy Mr. Friedman's column and send it to some of my friends and clients, on both sides of the issue, for consideration and thought. Again, thanks,

Rick Miller
Miller Insurance Agency
Corinth, Miss.

To The Editor:

I enjoyed Sam Friedman's March 17 column about tort reform caps being flexible, and am in total agreement with him. I am a senior risk management major, and have been following the medical malpractice problem as well as proposed tort reform arguments. I used some of Mr. Friedman's thoughts (all cited) in one of my papers.

However, I was disappointed with the information Mr. Friedman gave about “The King Of Torts.” I was over halfway through the book, and he kind of spoiled it for me. Take it easy with the book spoiling, but once again thanks for the well-thought-out argument.

Joey Vincent
Senior Risk Management Major
Troy State University
Troy, Ala.

Editor's Note: My apologies for giving away too much of the book for those who were reading it, or were interested in reading it. I make the same complaint all the time about movie and theater reviews. Next week: a letter from a reader who does not agree with my tort reform column. S.F.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 21, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved. Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.