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Special points of interest:
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National Grassroots Campaign Builds Momentum
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| Log on to our site to see how you can join the campaign. |
The Protect Patients Now national grassroots campaign for medical liability reform continues to build impressive momentum. As of mid-May, we have collected nearly 38,000 signatures for our petition drive and more than 14,000 letters have been sent to Congress from our web site (over 5,000 in just one week before the recent Senate vote). If you have not done so already, please take a moment to sign our petition and pass it along to friends and supporters.
Meanwhile, Protect Patients Now has launched its 2006 candidate pledge initiative to get Senators and candidates for the Senate to go on record in support of national medical liability reform. Please review a copy of our candidate pledge. PPN will keep you posted as the results come in.
Radio Tours Reach 45 Million Listeners
 In the last few weeks, DMLR representatives and like-minded doctors have gone on the airwaves to call attention to the medical liability crisis, broadcasting interviews and radio news releases to over 5,613 stations and reaching a combined audience of some 45 million listeners. The message of reform was ably carried forward by Dr. Stuart L. Weinstein (Orthopaedic Surgeon and Chair of DMLR), Dr. Carol Ritter (Ob/ Gyn), Dr. Robert Suter (Emergency Physician), and Dr. Troy Tippett (Neurosurgeon).
Our most recent radio news releases and interviews are available to download on our web site.
Web Site Update
Please visit our web site to view our new additions, including concise and compelling fact sheets on the medical liability crisis, links to pro-reform organizations, a resource page of pertinent articles and studies, and recent national and state news articles from across the country.
Filibusted!
| FOR A FULL RUNDOWN OF HOW EACH SENATOR VOTED ON S.22, PLEASE VIEW OUR ONLINE VOTING RECORD. |
A large number of our grassroots supporters have asked us to identify those Senators who led the filibuster against recent reform legislation, S.22, the Medical Care Access Protection Act of 2006. Most prominent among those working to block the pro-reform majority and preventing S.22 from receiving an up or down vote on the Senate floor were Senators Harry Reid (D-Nevada, Minority Leader), Ted Kennedy (DMassachusetts), Chris Dodd (DConnecticut), Patrick Leahy (DVermont), Russ Feingold (DWisconsin), and Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota).
Among those leading the efforts for liability reform with eloquent statements on the floor were Senators Bill Frist (RTennessee, Majority Leader), Rick Santorum (RPennsylvania), John Ensign (RNevada), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Mitch McConnell (RKentucky), Mike Enzi (RWyoming), Lisa Murkowski (RAlaska), Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire), John Warner (RVirginia), Lamar Alexander (RTennessee), George Voinovich (R-Ohio), John Thune (RSouth Dakota), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), and Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania).
For a full rundown of how each Senator voted on S.22, please view our online voting record. Then use our online “Action Center” to write your Senators and tell them what you think!
Maryland Public Television Airs Documentary on Crisis
On March 21, Maryland Public Television aired “If the Bough Breaks,” a compelling documentary on Maryland’s medical liability insurance crisis, privately funded and produced by Dr. Carol Ritter.
 After being forced to stop delivering babies by soaring liability insurance premiums and meritless lawsuits, Dr. Ritter has become a committed physician activist working for medical malpractice reform on the state and on national level (that’s when she’s not volunteering to deliver babies in Sri Lanka or Honduras, for “the sheer joy of doing what I do best but can’t do in Maryland.”) Please take a moment to watch a preview of “If the Bough Breaks.”
http://iftheboughbreaks.com/
DMLR in the News
 Over the past several weeks, Doctors for Medical Liability Reform and its spokespeople have been featured in various news articles and web sites.
Full coverage of DMLR in the News can be viewed on our web site.
The Washington Business Journal published an April 30 article, Medical malpractice reformers hope higher damage cap helps by Kent Hoover. The article also appeared in the Houston Business Journal, Nashville Business Journal, Puget Sound Business Journal, San Francisco Business Journal, and the South Florida Business Journal.
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A United Press International article by Laura Gilcrest, Bill revives tort reform debate, was picked up and featured on Monsters and Critics.com, News Daily, and Science Daily on May 3.
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Stuart L. Weinstein, M.D. published an op-ed, Medical Liability Repair, in the Washington Times on April 30,2006.
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Dr. Weinstein’s Washington Times editorial was subsequently excerpted by the online publication, California Healthline.
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Stuart L. Weinstein, M.D.’s May 5 editorial, Outside View: Time is now for tort reform was featured in the online publications News- Daily, Monsters and Critics. com, Science Daily, and United Press International.
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