The Business of Law – Marketing and Business for Enterprising Attorneys

Our friends over at the American Association for Justice announced last week that they are wading into the medical malpractice debate in a big way. As you know, the argument that’s been made by countless pundits is that tort reform in general, and medical malpractice reform in particular would lead to huge cost savings for our health care system. I’ll have a lot more to say about that myth in the coming days, but sufficed to say, it’s a ridiculous assertion, as numerous economists have made clear.

AAJ has decided not to let the myths go unchallenged. They have launched a new advertising and advocacy campaign to make sure people understand the importance of civil justice in preventing medical malpractice. The campaign is focused on one very troubling statistic. 98,000 people die every year from preventable error. It’s such an important stat that the AAJ is using the website: www.98000reasons.org as the home base for the campaign.

The TV and print ads which are running across the country make the point that 98,000 deaths is “like two 737s crashing every day for a whole year.”

Pretty powerful stuff. If you agree that tort reform is not the answer to cutting health care costs, and that the civil justice system is an important safety net for protecting patients, then please get involved now in the AAJ’s campaign.