Whether or not our country should employ tort reform in order to stop “frivolous” lawsuits is a highly debated topic. While it is an issue in the medical community for doctors as well as patients, it is something that not only is affected by but also affects politics. The issue of tort reform has some political values and motivations behind it. As Justinian Lane describes in “The Politics Behind Tort Reform,” most Republicans are for tort reform for several reasons. Republicans tend to be for business, and want less government control and regulation. Thus, on the basis of their values, most republicans are for tort reform in the sense that it stops messing with business. Further, republicans are often supported by industries that are involved in medical malpractice, by siding with them, they can hope to keep their funding. On the democrat side of things, a considerable amount of trial lawyers are democrat. Democrats tend to side with lawyers who are defending victims of medical malpractice based on shared values and wanting to guarantee monetary donations to their campaigns. Further, with Democrats and Republicans picking different sides to this issue, it gives them more reasoning to stick with their side - so the other party doesn’t gain benefits. Employing tort reform will also have …show more content…
At first I saw this as a simple issue of frivolous lawsuits, but I now see that it is a multi-faceted issue that nearly everyone has a stake in. I have come to the conclusion that tort reform - to some degree - is necessary in order to protect innocent doctors and stimulate the healthcare industry. However, I don’t think tort reform should be to the degree it is described. Patients should be able to file lawsuits after a one year period if necessary, and perhaps caps should not be so low, in order to account for different kinds of damage an individual may