"The total amount of noneconomic damages that may be awarded to a claimant and the members of the claimant's family for losses resulting from the injury which is the subject of a medical malpractice liability action may not exceed $250,000, regardless of the number of parties against whom the action is brought or the number of actions brought with respect to such injury."
-- Legislation Sponsored By Rep. Rick Santorum (1994)
Santorum's wife sues her chiropractor for $500,000 ($482,000 representing non-economic damages) in 1999. Santorum testifies in support of her damage claims at the trial. The jury awarded $350,000
-- Post-Gazette (12/11/1999)
"In any health care lawsuit, the amount of noneconomic damages recovered, if otherwise available under applicable Federal or State law, may be as much as $250,000, regardless of the number of parties against whom the action is brought or the number of separate claims or actions brought with respect to the same injury."
-- Legislation Endorsed By Sen. Rick Santorum (2003)
"[H]ypocrisy can often be a social good."
-- Sen. Rick Santorum, "It Takes a Family", p. 280
-- Legislation Sponsored By Rep. Rick Santorum (1994)
Santorum's wife sues her chiropractor for $500,000 ($482,000 representing non-economic damages) in 1999. Santorum testifies in support of her damage claims at the trial. The jury awarded $350,000
-- Post-Gazette (12/11/1999)
"In any health care lawsuit, the amount of noneconomic damages recovered, if otherwise available under applicable Federal or State law, may be as much as $250,000, regardless of the number of parties against whom the action is brought or the number of separate claims or actions brought with respect to the same injury."
-- Legislation Endorsed By Sen. Rick Santorum (2003)
"[H]ypocrisy can often be a social good."
-- Sen. Rick Santorum, "It Takes a Family", p. 280
4 comments:
Spread the word!
Oh, the word, like the santorum, is spreading.
Your post notes the following:
"Santorum's wife sues her chiropractor for $500,000 ($482,000 representing non-economic damages) in 1999. Santorum testifies in support of her damage claims at the trial. The jury awarded $350,000
-- Post-Gazette (12/11/1999"
I've just read the Post-Gazette story you "quote" - twice - and there's absolutely NO MENTION of $482,000 OR a specific amount sought by Mrs. Santorum for non-economic damages.
In fact, the lawsuit didn't specify amounts for economic or non-economic damages - and the award didn't either. The parenthetical statement about non-economic damages was added and did NOT appear in the newspaper story.
I find it hypocritical that people who oppose Sen. Santorum believe his wife shouldn't have access to our court system just because he supports liability reform.
Don't trial lawyers and the liberals believe EVERYONE, including enemy combatants and terrorists, are entitled to a trial? (At least, that's what other entries on this blog suggest....)
Maybe I shouldn't have been allowed to have that mastectomy because I'm married to a surgeon, too?
DBR
Your post suggests that you've seen the complaint, why not share it with us?
Until then, I'll rely on the news reports that at the same time he was arging it was immoral to do so, his wife was suing her Virigina Chiropractor for half a million bucks. He testified in support of her claim for non-economic damages.
The only specific item of economic damages mentioned in the reports or in the judge's decision reducing the "outrageous" jury award was the $18,800 she claimed as medical damages.
Reports bound, but try out ABC News.
Here's how Roll Call described Santorum's testimony in support of his wife's claim for damages (watch for all of those references to actual economic damages, okay?):
“Karen Santorum, he said, ‘likes to be fit,’ but has had trouble losing weight since the birth of their two youngest children - Sarah Maria, who was born two years ago this month, and Peter, who is 2 months old – because she can’t exercise as easily as she once could.
“While Santorum described his wife as an exercise fanatic who used to engage in everything from step aerobics to jogging to lose weight after the birth of each of their first three children, the herniated disk changed all that.
“‘We have to go out and do a lot of public things. She wants to look nice, so it’s really difficult,’ Santorum told the jury.
“The Senator also said he fears his wife will be unable to help him out much with his upcoming re-election campaign because of her physical limitations and the poor self-image she has developed since her back problems changed her life and her daily routine.
“‘She has always been intricately involved in my campaigns,’ Santorum said, explaining that he and his wife ‘knocked on 20,000 doors together’ during his previous campaign.
“Now, he says, she ‘does not have the confidence to do that.’”
So much for your "facts".
As for your opinion that it is hypocritical to call out Santorum on his malpractice hypocrisy, why that is a proposition either too subtle or too obtuse for my little mind to grasp.
But, thanks for playing.
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