John Edwards -- Trial Lawyers friend/A Dr's nightmare

Received this via E-mail from a friend in the Carolina's:

Nope, I haven't checked the veracity of the statements...yes, much of the claims in here appear to be consistent with what I do know about Edwards...and for what it's worth: Kerry's choice of Edwards was a huge red flag. Sure, the vice presidency isn't more than a bucket of warm spit, but the running mate choice clearly illustrates who's the money behind the throne: The American Trial Lawyer's Association. I predict that should this undeserving duo win the election, we will see an era of untrammeled frivolous lawsuits. The sharks are praying and paying. also, at the bottom of this, find some appropriate Kerry humor; his gaffes exceed Bush's....

The American Medical Association lists North Carolina's current
health care situation as a "crisis" and blames it on
medical-malpractice lawsuits such as the ones that made
Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards a
millionaire many times over.

One of the most successful personal-injury lawyers in North
Carolina history, Mr. Edwards won dozens of lawsuits against
doctors and hospitals across the state that he now represents in
the Senate. He won more than 50 cases with verdicts or
settlements of $1 million or more, according to North Carolina
Lawyers Weekly, and 31 of those were medical-malpractice suits.

During his 20 years of suing doctors and hospitals, he pioneered
the art of blaming psychiatrists for patients who commit suicide
and blaming doctors for delivering babies with cerebral palsy,
according to doctors, fellow lawyers and legal observers who
followed Mr. Edwards' career in North Carolina.

"The John Edwards we know crushed [obstetrics, gynecology] and
neurosurgery in North Carolina," said Dr. Craig VanDerVeer, a
Charlotte neurosurgeon. "As a result, thousands of patients lost
their health care." ...

One of his most noted victories was a $23 million settlement he
got from a 1995 case -- his last before joining the Senate -- in
which he sued the doctor, gynecological clinic, anesthesiologist
and hospital involved in the birth of Bailey Griffin, who had
cerebral palsy and other medical problems.

Linking complications during childbirth to cerebral palsy became
a specialty for Mr. Edwards. In the courtroom, he was known to
dramatize the events at birth by speaking to jurors as if he
were the unborn baby, begging for help, begging to be let out of
the womb.

"He was very good at it," said Dr. John Schmitt, an obstetrician
and gynecologist who used to practice in Mr. Edwards' hometown
of Raleigh. "But the science behind a lot of his arguments was
flawed."

In 2003, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists published a joint
study that cast serious doubt on whether events at childbirth
cause cerebral palsy. The "vast majority" of cerebral palsy
cases originate long before childbirth, according to the study.

"Now, he would have a much harder time proving a lot of his
cases," said Dr. Schmitt, who now practices at the University of
Virginia Health System. ...

It is not clear just how much Mr. Edwards made as a lawyer, but
estimates based on a review of his lawsuit settlements and
Senate records place his fortune at about $38 million.

Like many Democrats, Mr. Edwards has benefited from the
generosity of fellow trial lawyers, who have given millions of
dollars to Mr. Edwards' political campaigns and other political
endeavors. ...

As a result of these and other cases, insurance rates for
doctors have skyrocketed -- putting some out of business and
driving others away, especially from rural areas. And doctors
who have lost cases to Mr. Edwards have been bankrupted.

Patients, meanwhile, are left with rising health care costs and
fewer -- if any -- doctors in their area. It is increasingly a
nationwide problem, physicians say.

Dr. VanDerVeer, the Charlotte neurosurgeon, recalled one recent
night on duty when two patients arrived in an emergency room in
Myrtle Beach, S.C., where the area's last neurosurgeons quit
earlier this year.

"No one in Myrtle Beach would accept responsibility for these
patients," he said. And because it was raining, the helicopters
were grounded, so the patients were loaded into ambulances and
driven the four hours to Charlotte.

Upon arrival, one patient had died, and the other learned that
she merely had a minor concussion -- and a $6,000 bill for the
ambulance ride.

"That's just one little slice of life here," Dr. VanDerVeer
said. "It's a direct result of the medical-malpractice situation
that John Edwards fomented."

Dr. Schmitt had spent 20 years delivering babies in Raleigh.
Though he had no claims against him, his insurance tripled in
one year. With no assurances that his rates would ever drop, or
just stop rising, he left town. ...

"We are currently being sued out of existence," Dr. VanDerVeer
said. "People have to choose whether they want these lawyers to
make gazillions of dollars in pain and suffering awards or
whether they want health care."

Kerry gave a big speech last week about how his faith is so
"important" to him. In this attempt to convince the American people that we should consider him for president, he announced that his favorite Bible verse is John 16:3.

Of course the speech writer meant John 3:16, but nobody in the Kerry camp was familiar enough with scripture to catch the error. And do you know what John 16:3 says? John 16:3 says; "They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me."

The Spirit works in strange ways.