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Here's a thumbnail of the case against Edwards -- quotable:

"[John Edwards' book] Four Trials .. discusses the first of Edwards's many lawsuits against obstetricians and hospitals on behalf of babies born with cerebral palsy�perhaps his most lucrative specialty. But the book does not mention the growing medical consensus that in the overwhelming majority of cases, this severe form of brain damage is not the fault of botched deliveries, but instead relates to causes long before birth .. Nor does the book mention the evidence that fear of such lawsuits has spurred doctors to order millions of medically unwarranted Caesarean deliveries in recent decades ..

.. it was never any secret that the tort system does nothing for the vast majority of babies with cerebral palsy, because their cases don't look like winners to lawyers. A North Carolina state legislator proposed, unsuccessfully, to address this inequity in 1991 by creating a special fund for all such families to share, while limiting malpractice awards. Edwards opposed the bill, according to The New York Times, calling it a baby tax. But a baby tax already exists: the malpractice premiums paid by obstetricians. And Edwards did much to increase those premiums."

Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack