Malpractice
To the Editor:
Senator Mark Norris’ Viewpoint (March 6th
issue) is a simply scripted vernissage masquerading as
news. These “bills” are canned legislation prepared in
conservative thinkbins like those MREs (Meals Ready
to Eat) given our soldiers.
A better way to resolve malpractice claims can
be found. However, it will not come from pretextual
legislation offered by a legislator like Norris, whose
representation of health-care providers in his law practice
casts a shadow across his sponsorship. As a citizen, I
disclose my self-interest: I handle malpractice cases.
The insurance company Norris mentions left
this writer and thousands of lawyers uninsured for
malpractice along with a few physicians. I obtained new
insurance and so can our physicians. Moreover, 98.5
percent of all peer-reviewed cases of malpractice go unnoticed,
as reported in 1997 in The New England Journal of
Medicine.
Norris’ statistic that the average malpractice
verdict was $1 million has no basis in fact and overlooks
the physician’s “win rate” of near 90 percent, which reduces to
a negligible amount the real vs. imagined liability they face.
Mark Ledbetter
Memphis
Crime and Truancy
To the Editor:
Regarding Mary Cashiola’s article “Skippers in
the Slammer?” (City Reporter, March 6th issue):
There are direct correlations that can and should be
established between crime and truancy. The majority
of juveniles transferred to adult court have a history
of truant behavior. According to Kenneth A. Turner,
judge of the Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby
County, truancy is a “gateway” behavior. Just a quick glance
at national averages will indicate that a high percentage
of all convicted felons were educationally neglected,
failing to achieve the minimum of a high school education.
Juvenile crime has not reached epidemic levels
in our community thanks to the work of many
individuals and agencies involved in the truancy
initiative. Thankfully, our district attorney, William
Gibbons, supports this initiative with the assignment of a
full-time prosecutor and a campaign that takes a
valuable message into our community. Instead of asking
the question “Should parents go to jail if their kids
play hooky?,” you should be asking the question “Can
society afford to lose another generation of children?”
The message from Gibbons’ warning parents is
crucial to the survival of our nation’s youth. We need
to join him and send a collective message into our
communities, which is that the parents and guardians of
our school-age children will be held responsible,
accountable, culpable, and liable for the actions of their children.
Thomas Shouse
Memphis
Defense Business
To the Editor:
The Carlyle Group is the largest private equity
firm in the world. It manages funds totaling over $14
billion. However, Carlyle has made huge amounts of
money buying companies which were not publicly traded,
overhauling them, and then selling them off at a profit.
While some of the purchases have not done well, most have.
Consider the purchase of what is now United
Defense Industries, Inc. Carlyle acquired United in
1997. Under Carlyle’s management, United’s debt was
reduced significantly, and with
“Washington-insider” connections, there was a substantial increase in
business with the Defense Department. United’s Web site reported
that the company “was able to reinvest in defense opportunities.”
In December 2001, just a few months after George W.
Bush declared war on terrorism, Carlyle arranged to have United
sold off as a publicly traded firm. Over 21 million shares were
sold, raising over $400 million. Carlyle ended up with 3 million shares.
United did very well in 2002. Its income rose to $134
million from $8.8 million the year before. The company
was awarded contracts worth $473 million during the last
quarter of 2002, which, added to already existing contracts, created
a backlog of just under $2 billion. This not only benefits
UDI stockholders. Carlyle’s investments of client monies in
United will provide excellent returns.
My concern is that in the recent past a listing of
partners, officers, directors, advisers, and counselors reads like
George W. Bush’s Inaugural Ball “invite list.” Included
are/were former President George Bush, former Secretary of
State James Baker, former Defense Secretary Frank
Carlucci, former Budget Director Richard Darman, former SEC
chairman Arthur Levitt, and former British prime minister
John Major. Others are/were wealthy, world power brokers,
including members of Osama bin Laden’s family.
I can’t ignore the fact that the bin Ladens (who
renounced their son in the 1990s) stood to gain from
the war being waged against him or that the current
president is in a position to influence budgetary decisions
that could pad the bank accounts of his “daddy” and
other Washington insiders.
Mack Hamblen
Germantown
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