The Aug. 2 news article “Lobbyists taking credit for writing bill to overhaul medical malpractice laws” claimed that lobbyists boasted about writing new legislation blindly passed by Congress without review. The bill was a modestly revised version of legislation that has been debated for about 20 years. In that time, nearly identical legislation was the subject of repeated congressional hearings and debate. Lobbyists’ role in “drafting” the bill was merely to provide proposed fixes meant to address concerns raised by reform opponents — hardly an effort to “protect their industry.” The overwhelming majority of the bill remained unchanged from what had been debated. When interested parties acknowledge that they were consulted about legislation, they should be applauded for their transparency rather than falsely accused of “boasting” or attempting to undermine our legislative system. Passage of the medical liability reform bill is an example of our government working as it should — legislators consulting with their constituencies, stakeholders providing feedback and those concerns being appropriately considered. To imply otherwise is disingenuous.
