I can't get over that you people in the US elect your prosecutors (and judges, for that matter).
Not true. Please recall that the U.S. has two judicial systems, state and federal. Federal judges are appointed by the President (Executive Branch) and confirmed by the Senate (Legislative Branch) and are (with some exceptions) appointed for life terms. No elections there. At the state level, YMMV (some states have partisan judicial elections, some non-partisan judicial elections, and some have judges appointed by the governor for life terms.
Westlaw does more than just match up page numbers. They have a copyrighted "Key" numbering system that indexes case law by each point of law. This is not done by the court system (state or federal). West employs editors (most of whom are lawyers, IIRC) to read the cases and create the index/key numbering system. West does have their own pagination system (called "pin-point" cites), as does Lexis, but that's not why the Westlaw copyright was upheld.
In fact, if you print off a case/statute on Westlaw, it will come with a footer on the page that DISCLAIMS any copyright on original govermental work (i.e., the actual text itself of the case or statute).
Before a patient victimized by medical malpractice may file a lawsuit in Nevada District Court, the patient must submit a claim to the Medical Dental Screening Panel, consisting of six professionals - three doctors and three attorneys.
Before a patient victimized by medical malpractice may file a claim, another doctor must sign an affidavit under oath that medical malpractice occurred and caused injury to the patient.
In medical malpractice claims, Nevada has a loser pays system. If a patient victimized by medical malpractice loses at the screening panel, proceeds to court and loses at trial, the victim must pay the doctors attorneys fees and costs. Recent examples include awards against victims in excess of $100,000.
Nevada has over 4,000 doctors, 16,000 Registered Nurses, and more than 2,000 Licensed Practical Nurses. Every day, thousands of procedures (e.g., surgery, blood transfusions, medication administration, diagnoses) are performed in Nevada. In 2001, 219 claims were filed at the screening panel, 181 of which were filed in Clark County.
Finally, let's put this all into perspective:
The St. Paul insurance company paid out about $19.6 million in Nevada malpractice claims in the same year that it lost over $108 Million related to Enron: http://www.ntla.org/medmal/Exhibita.pdf
Last time I checked, St. Paul hasn't stopped insuring other businesses or pushed for caps on claims made by fraudulent businesses like Enron whose entire business plan was the corporate equivalent of supposed ambulance-chasing malpractice victims. That wouldn't go over too well in the boardroom; it's a heckuva lot easier to conjure up some smoke-and-mirror "crisis" targeted against individual claimants who have neither the corporate nor financial wherewithal to mount a unified front to defeat such nonsense.
No, I purposely mentioned BOTH health insurance premiums paid by patients AND malpractice premiums paid by physicians. The insurance industry is giving the same line on both of them in trying to justify exorbitant premium increases.
If you can prove either of these 2 statements in your post, I'll put my own name on the list of black-balled attorneys:
1. "99% of these lawsuits that people file against doctors that supposedly caused 'brain damage' to children when they were born are completly bogus."
OR
2. "The total crap part is that you can sue ANYTIME after birth and claim that the doctor that delivered you caused any problems that you have now."
The fact is that profit and greed by insurance companies have driven medical costs through the roof in this country, not lawsuits. There is not a single state in the U.S. where medical malpractice OR health insurance premiums have come down by $0.01 since the introduction of any tort "reform" measure.
The next time some doctor or insurance hack tells you some supposed horror story about having to pay millions of dollars because of what he/she considers to be a bogus "frivolous" lawsuit, ask him/her the following:
1. If you had a pay all this money, why didn't you go to trial and prove your case?
2. If they answer, "my insurance company made me settle," then ask them why they rolled over on their principles because some faceless insurance company told them to.
Then, when they get done bad-mouthing everyone they've seen in the last 20 years, ask them for the name of the case and the court it was in. Then, take an hour of YOUR time, go down to the courthouse and look through the case file for the true picture.
Don't take my word for it; go look for yourself. That's the beauty of our Constitution here in the U.S.A. and I would be extremely suspect of anyone who advocates a system that wants to take away your constitutional right to a jury trial, the right of access to the court system, and your right to a fair and impartial decision maker.
Slashdot Mirror
I can't get over that you people in the US elect your prosecutors (and judges, for that matter).
Not true. Please recall that the U.S. has two judicial systems, state and federal. Federal judges are appointed by the President (Executive Branch) and confirmed by the Senate (Legislative Branch) and are (with some exceptions) appointed for life terms. No elections there. At the state level, YMMV (some states have partisan judicial elections, some non-partisan judicial elections, and some have judges appointed by the governor for life terms.
Westlaw does more than just match up page numbers. They have a copyrighted "Key" numbering system that indexes case law by each point of law. This is not done by the court system (state or federal). West employs editors (most of whom are lawyers, IIRC) to read the cases and create the index/key numbering system. West does have their own pagination system (called "pin-point" cites), as does Lexis, but that's not why the Westlaw copyright was upheld. In fact, if you print off a case/statute on Westlaw, it will come with a footer on the page that DISCLAIMS any copyright on original govermental work (i.e., the actual text itself of the case or statute).
I'd get your facts straight about Nevada first:
Before a patient victimized by medical malpractice may file a lawsuit in Nevada District Court, the patient must submit a claim to the Medical Dental Screening Panel, consisting of six professionals - three doctors and three attorneys.
Before a patient victimized by medical malpractice may file a claim, another doctor must sign an affidavit under oath that medical malpractice occurred and caused injury to the patient.
In medical malpractice claims, Nevada has a loser pays system. If a patient victimized by medical malpractice loses at the screening panel, proceeds to court and loses at trial, the victim must pay the doctors attorneys fees and costs. Recent examples include awards against victims in excess of $100,000.
Nevada has over 4,000 doctors, 16,000 Registered Nurses, and more than 2,000 Licensed Practical Nurses. Every day, thousands of procedures (e.g., surgery, blood transfusions, medication administration, diagnoses) are performed in Nevada. In 2001, 219 claims were filed at the screening panel, 181 of which were filed in Clark County.
Finally, let's put this all into perspective:
The St. Paul insurance company paid out about $19.6 million in Nevada malpractice claims in the same year that it lost over $108 Million related to Enron: http://www.ntla.org/medmal/Exhibita.pdf
Last time I checked, St. Paul hasn't stopped insuring other businesses or pushed for caps on claims made by fraudulent businesses like Enron whose entire business plan was the corporate equivalent of supposed ambulance-chasing malpractice victims. That wouldn't go over too well in the boardroom; it's a heckuva lot easier to conjure up some smoke-and-mirror "crisis" targeted against individual claimants who have neither the corporate nor financial wherewithal to mount a unified front to defeat such nonsense.
No, I purposely mentioned BOTH health insurance premiums paid by patients AND malpractice premiums paid by physicians. The insurance industry is giving the same line on both of them in trying to justify exorbitant premium increases.
If you can prove either of these 2 statements in your post, I'll put my own name on the list of black-balled attorneys:
1. "99% of these lawsuits that people file against doctors that supposedly caused 'brain damage' to children when they were born are completly bogus." OR
2. "The total crap part is that you can sue ANYTIME after birth and claim that the doctor that delivered you caused any problems that you have now."
The fact is that profit and greed by insurance companies have driven medical costs through the roof in this country, not lawsuits. There is not a single state in the U.S. where medical malpractice OR health insurance premiums have come down by $0.01 since the introduction of any tort "reform" measure.
The next time some doctor or insurance hack tells you some supposed horror story about having to pay millions of dollars because of what he/she considers to be a bogus "frivolous" lawsuit, ask him/her the following:
1. If you had a pay all this money, why didn't you go to trial and prove your case?
2. If they answer, "my insurance company made me settle," then ask them why they rolled over on their principles because some faceless insurance company told them to.
Then, when they get done bad-mouthing everyone they've seen in the last 20 years, ask them for the name of the case and the court it was in. Then, take an hour of YOUR time, go down to the courthouse and look through the case file for the true picture.
Don't take my word for it; go look for yourself. That's the beauty of our Constitution here in the U.S.A. and I would be extremely suspect of anyone who advocates a system that wants to take away your constitutional right to a jury trial, the right of access to the court system, and your right to a fair and impartial decision maker.
Aw, come on. Shopping on ebay isn't nearly as much of a suspicious activity as just standing along the roadside in the middle of Nevada:
http://www.papersplease.org/hiibel/