America's Tunnel Vision : How Insurance Companies' Propaganda Is Corrupting Medicine and Law

by Watson, Michael Townes

• ISBN13: 9780977620357
• ISBN10: 0977620352
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-06-30
• Publisher: Horatio Pr

Summary

A thorough, but readable, description of how the insurance and corporate world have taken over patients' access to quality healthcare, and are now capturing the justice system. The book is filled with facts demonstrating insurance companies attempts to hijack patients' rights.

Author Biography

Michael Townes Watson--Author of four books and numerous articles on law, law and medicine, and mediation practices; Former Adjunct Professor--Medical Malpractice Law--Texas Wesleyan University School of Law; Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization; Magna Cum Laude graduate of University of Texas School of Law (1976); Instructor of ôLegal Research, Writing and the Court Systemö to Fulbright Scholars; Licensed to practice in Texas and New York; Member--American Board of Trial Advocates

Table of Contents

Preface	1	(14)
Law and Morals in a Democracy	15	(36)
Cases Against Doctors--What is ``Right versus Wrong?''	18	(3)
The author's outlook	21	(2)
Money-Does it control Policy?	23	(2)
Our historical struggles for Liberty	25	(5)
Where Do Money, History and Right take us?	30	(5)
Who judges the corporations?	35	(5)
Is there a problem with majority rule?	40	(8)
Ignorance of the law	48	(3)
Civil Lawsuits--Myths Versus Facts	51	(50)
Are the culprits doctors or lawyers?	53	(2)
Communication is key	55	(2)
Does the blame lie elsewhere?	57	(8)
Horror stories used to make an illogical point	65	(11)
Power to decide life or death, but too dumb for you and me	76	(1)
A Cup of Coffee for a fish tale	77	(5)
Who defines Frivolous?	82	(2)
The cry for relief by the corporate guys	84	(7)
Jury verdicts ring clear with corporations	91	(2)
What are damages awarded for?	93	(3)
Why pick on non-economic damages?	96	(5)
Insurance Companies Logic is Illogical	101	(30)
The real cost of injury	106	(2)
Comparative negligence accounts for the fault of plaintiffs	108	(2)
Assumption of the Risk	110	(2)
Asbestos injuries	112	(3)
Medical Malpractice Reforms	115	(3)
Real people get really hurt	118	(2)
Politicians prone to misinformation	120	(11)
The Medical System is Not Error-Free	131	(34)
We will never get rid of all of the mistakes	136	(4)
Should doctors and hospitals get special treatment and consideration?	140	(5)
Patients with unwanted medical souvenirs	145	(5)
Who defines what care should be given?	150	(6)
Houston, we have a problem!	156	(3)
Can hospital inspectors do the job?	159	(2)
What is the best remedy for the conduct of errant doctors and hospitals?	161	(4)
Medical Malpractice Cases-Different Animal	165	(34)
Good doctors pay for the bad doctors	173	(1)
Doctor Vicodin	174	(5)
Will changes in the jury system lower the cost of healthcare?	179	(4)
Do they really want fair and balanced reform?	183	(4)
Getting Your Day in Court Isn't Free	187	(5)
Malpractice cases are not what we're told	192	(1)
Doctor Intimidation of Patients	193	(6)
Insurance Companies Have Created their Own Problems	199	(44)
Companies telling stupid jurors what to do	202	(7)
Why does the wheel squeak?	209	(1)
Who gets the big fish?	210	(4)
Bedpan Mutuals wreak havoc	214	(9)
Washington--we have a drug problem!!	223	(5)
The $800 toilet seats	228	(5)
The Right and Power to Make decisions, without responsibility for those decisions	233	(2)
The fox guarding the hen house	235	(8)
Will the Doctors Police Themselves?	243	(32)
Twelve strikes and you're out	245	(7)
``We'll give you just ten years to quit killing people''	252	(7)
New state--new record	259	(2)
The fault is in our courts, they say	261	(4)
A ray of sunshine in the sunshine state	265	(10)
Corporate Influence---The Destruction of the People's Power	275	(60)
Pinstripes or Khakis	285	(11)
``That's not my dog''	296	(7)
Hospitals playing mission impossible	303	(3)
Witness protection programs	306	(2)
Dixon Klein--a victim of the witness protection program	308	(2)
Whose pot of gold is it?	310	(3)
The role of the corporate world in medicine	313	(8)
Look every gift horse in the mouth	321	(7)
The mother of corporate wrongdoing	328	(7)
The Justice System Works When Given the Chance	335	(28)
Watergate--just another third-rate burglary	342	(2)
From antiquity to modern times	344	(4)
The ``People's Attorney''	348	(5)
Lawyers as instruments of public philosophy	353	(2)
Tort reform journalism	355	(4)
Was Antiquity better than modern times?	359	(4)
Juries Are Not the Problem With the Justice System	363	(26)
Nation's Largest Medical Malpractice Insurer Declares Caps on Damages Don't Work	364	(8)
Risk Management: Honesty May Be the Best Policy	372	(5)
Maybe businesses really know the truth, too!	377	(2)
Improvements in medical technology needed	379	(2)
Malpractice premiums--a needle in the haystack of dollar bills	381	(3)
Caps on Damages do not work	384	(5)
Plaintiff's Lawyers -- You Love to Hate Them	389	(16)
Does Atticus Finch live any more?	391	(3)
Lawyer to client--``I may be a jerk, but I am your jerk!!''	394	(2)
People (including some trial lawyers) do not understand medical malpractice cases	396	(4)
No skid marks	400	(5)
Caps on Damages Will Not Help Access to the Health Care System	405	(40)
Whose remedy should we use?	415	(4)
A fix for frivolity	419	(7)
Real and powerful sanctions for real and powerful results	426	(8)
Why are insurance companies the only unregulated business?	434	(1)
Money, Politics and the Old Boy network	435	(4)
Black robes do not despots make	439	(6)
A Word About Moral Values	445	(2)
The Blind Intersection	447