Opinion
Tort system reflects a greedy society
LETTER — Posted Nov. 26, 2007
Regarding: "Lawyer who sued wrong physician won't pay up" (Article, Oct. 22/29) and "Expert witness sues ophthalmology society" (Article, Oct. 22/29): The American law industry has devised a splendid marketing aid to increase its turnover: the "contingency fee," which rewards the lawyers with a fat slice, 30% to 40%, of any damages they get for their client, but nothing if they lose. No sale, no commission.
Woodrow Wilson once observed, "Law is the crystallization of the habit and thought of the society." Therefore, when society degenerates or when society's moral fiber is impaired, the legal system reflects that depravity.
Greed is as human as eating, and demanding gigantic damages for real or imagined injury is as American as apple pie.
Vadrevu K. Raju, MD, Morgantown, W.V.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/11/26/edlt1126.htm.