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bush to do good?

Bush is pushing the courts to declare affirmative action unconstitutional, this is a good thing in my opinion. Affirmative action is a concept past it’s time, now it is a vehicle for, not against, discrimination. I understand that there is still discrimination, but affirmative action promotes one set of discriminating practices in an attempt to eliminate another set. I am all for equality, a color/sex/age/religion blind, uber-PC society but now that affirmative action has run it’s course and opened doors for those who needed them opened forcefully it is time to let time itself fix the problem. Affirmative action was a satisfactory solution for an overwhelming problem, now before it has a chance to become an overwhelming problem itself, it is time to move on.

Bush is also proposing a cap on medical malpractice lawsuits. I think he is a little off here. I fully agree that there needs to be something done about the sky rocketing cost of insurance for doctors which in turn leads to higer health care cost for us, which then causes our insurance to go up. But capping malpractice at a quarter million is not an idea I favor. I think that if a doctor does something that causes a patient to be be disabled and unable to work or become permanently disfigured then the person may well need more than a $250K to live off for the rest of their lives. However I think a million would be more than enough for almost all cases here, with the possibility of judicial discretion to increase that amount in rare extenuating circumstances. So I think an upper limit on rewards is a good thing—STOP THE GREED!—but this should apply to ALL civil cases, not just malpractice.

Bush doing good? Somebody pinch me! I must be dreaming… Then again all this is insignificant in the face of his continual warmongering, and the opinion polls are starting to show we are heading to a new Vietnam era like division in America. Not there yet but getting closer, whole cities are passing anti-war resolutions now! (that said there is an anti-war rally in DC this weekend, come join Codejunkie and me! Go to A.N.S.W.E.R. for more info.)

2 replies on “bush to do good?”

I wouldn’t say Bush is really doing good. He just happens to be doing things I can agree with. Just not the way I would see them done.

I have to agree that affirmative cast is for the most part past it’s time. However I look at what Bush picked and what he has done about it: He took a case that is going to the Supreme Court, has applied his amicus brief to it, and turned the case into a national debate on the topic. I think that is unfair to the courts, who now are force to ignore the political pressures and ramifications of their decision as is may be blown up by the media. I don’t think this is the right way for this debate to be framed. I am still entirely unsure what is the constitutional question being raised by this case, which is probably MORE fundamental then the label this will have.

Regarding malpractice claims, I have a fact, and a question. The average man with a high school diploma will make between $1million and $4million over the course of thier life time. Why are so many cases allowed to be brought against doctors in the first place?

I agree that Bush doing good might be a stretch, that’s why it was a question.

As for the Supreme Court case, and the whole ordeal being unfair to the courts, you have to remember that the reason Supreme Court Justices are elected for life it to place them above the media and solely answerable to the law, and their convictions or interpretations of the Constitution. Affirmative action needs to be a national debate till it is declared unconstitutional (which, hopefully the court will do.) As for Bush’s involvement I don’t know much about how that works, from what I understand the whole Amicus brief thing is basically an opinion that the judges get to read, with supporting cases and references — maybe it will save them some research. I suppose that the whole thing is a political move — a ‘hey no matter what the court says, we can look progressive to middle of the road voters who usually swing democratic.’ C’est la vie, politics as usual.

I like the fact, maybe the award should be pro-rated for career ending things, if your 20ish then you get a max of four million, if your in your 30’s then the max is three million… etc. Why are so many cases allowed to be brought? because if a doctor messes up, it’s usually pertinent — and of course we have ambulance chasing lawyers why not gurney chasing ones? ‘Did you have enough anesthesia? If not give me a call…’ And there is the always cheerful statistic that every year 1500 patients get something left in them after surgery…
‘Fifty-four percent of the sponges and surgical tools in the error cases were left in the abdomen or pelvis, 22 percent in vaginas, 7 percent in the chest, and the rest in various bodily regions, including the face and brain.’
Then again, it article also says:
‘The average payout to patients in the lawsuits prompted by the errors was $52,581.’
If thats so, then where are all the big malpractice lawsuits?

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