Letters

The Doctor Is Out

The disgust that most physicians feel for the medical-malpractice tort system has to do with more than money [BUSINESS, June 9]. When a doctor is forced to regard every patient as a potential courtroom adversary as well as a human being in need, the mutual trust inherent in the physician-patient relationship is severely damaged. Working 10-to-12-hour days (plus nights and weekends on call) and constantly making life-and-death decisions are stressful enough without having to worry about lawsuits. It is easy to understand why many of my colleagues have thrown in the towel. The next time you get sick, you may have to call a lawyer because there might not be any doctors left. ROBERT J. YAES, M.D. Gaithersburg, Md.

No one who has had a loved one seriously injured by a negligent doctor would support limits on malpractice awards. Insurance companies are taking advantage of physicians' fear of medical-malpractice suits. They have finally pushed the doctors too far. SONDRA ADAMS Jacksonville, Fla.

You reported that in the states with caps on pain-and-suffering awards, malpractice premiums rose faster than in those without. Why aren't doctors and lawyers combining their considerable political clout to work for regulation of premium costs instead of undermining one another? Insurance companies are running the country's health-care system into the ground, forcing doctors and patients to bear the increasing burden of the insurance firms' poor money-management practices. The insurers are the ones that need regulation. DANA O'LEARY Springfield, Ore.

Thank you for the brilliant report on the flight of doctors from the medical profession. I was frightened to read that in many communities physicians have become unwilling (and often unable) to provide high-risk care because plaintiffs are waiting to pounce on them in droves, driving up malpractice awards and consequently insurance rates. We once rewarded physicians for saving lives. Now we are forcing them out of business. Who is being helped here? We should be ashamed of ourselves as a community of plaintiffs, medical-malpractice attorneys and, most of all, hypocrites who are chasing away the very people we have always turned to in times of need. BARBARA BLANK Chicago

You said too little about the massive damage that a small percentage of incompetent, negligent doctors do--not just to patients but also to their fellow physicians. If incompetent doctors want to continue to practice and the state allows them to, then the state should cover their insurance costs. Otherwise, we should get rid of them; they're dangerous! If insurance companies don't want to cover unfit or negligent doctors, they shouldn't have to. PETER SMITH Reston, Va.

Since when has perfect health been a basic human right? These days it seems as if everyone feels entitled to health care without facing the natural risks of life. If you place yourself in a doctor's care, that's your decision and an admission that there is no better alternative. Yes, measures should be taken to eliminate incompetence in the doctor's office, but at some point our society must return to a foundation of trust. Punishing those who are dedicated to saving lives is not a solution. Malpractice litigation is outrageous. You must take responsibility for the choices you make. CLAYTON JANCA New Braunfels, Texas

>>Some of our readers had their own approach to coping with the medical crisis caused by soaring malpractice-insurance premiums. A Massachusetts man offered this do-it-yourself solution: "Why can't patients purchase malpractice insurance when they walk into a hospital, just as people buy flight insurance before they take a flight? Maybe the sight of an insurance counter in the lobby of a hospital wouldn't be too reassuring, but neither is a doctor shortage." A Michigan reader echoed the idea: "I'm all for taking the lawyers out of the equation. In advance of nonemergency, non-life-threatening surgeries, let patients insure themselves. Those who choose not to would take the same risk as eBay buyers who don't pay shipping insurance."

The Mess in Iraq

The photographs of U.S. soldiers grimly trying to control crowds in Iraq saddened me [WORLD, June 9]. The Americans do not appear to be showing compassion. Respect for cultural differences and understanding are lacking in the Bush Administration and its armed forces. Being a superpower requires tactful diplomacy, along with the need to adjust to different cultural habits. Not everyone in this world accepts the American lifestyle and way of thinking. MICHAEL HAYES Calgary, Canada

The occupying troops in Iraq are still getting killed on a regular basis. The Greeks had a name for it: Pyrrhic victory. With Bush on a roll, how many more such victories can we look forward to? IRVING STANTON ELMAN Pacific Palisades, Calif.

Where Are the WMD?

Your report "Weapons Of Mass Disappearance" [NATION, June 9] noted that President Bush justified a pre-emptive war on Saddam by saying he possessed chemical and biological arms--weapons of mass destruction (WMD). If the Bush Administration had concentrated on making public Saddam's serious human-rights abuses instead of focusing on WMD, it would not have lost credibility when no evidence of a WMD program was found. The war would have been justified by the discovery of the bodies of thousands of Saddam's victims. PIERRE BASMAJI Berkeley, Calif.

Your article missed the point. The U.S. went to war to subdue a country that endorsed, encouraged and supported terrorism. As a target of terrorist acts, the U.S. has the moral and legal right to defend itself. After 9/11, the question of Iraq's WMD became secondary to the main problem of eliminating a terrorist dictator who was a danger to all. DAN STRUM Jerusalem

If President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair were so devious as to manipulate the intelligence about WMD, then certainly they would go the last mile and fabricate the discovery of WMD in postwar Iraq. Had evil manipulation been at play, the troops would be holding up large caches of WMD for Americans and the rest of the world to see. PETER MELARAGNO Miami Beach

The American people--and the whole world--were assured that we had to go to war with Iraq because its WMD were a direct threat to us. Now we are sending an investigation team of 1,400 people over there to hunt for them. Either we were scammed or our intelligence gathering is seriously flawed. Whichever it is, the U.S. ends up with egg on its face. CAROLYN SIEBER Dayton, Ohio

A Modest Proposal

In his Commentary "Blessed Are The Poor--They Don't Get Tax Cuts," Joe Klein wrote, "Families with incomes between $10,500 and $26,625 ... pay little or no income taxes" [IN THE ARENA, June 9]. This being the case, why should these families receive the proposed tax credit which could amount to $400? Why must we keep giving to the poor, the way the Democrats want to? If we do, the poor will come to expect it, which is one of the primary problems with today's welfare program: there's no incentive to better one's way of life. JOSEPH KING St. Peters, Mo.

Klein's complaint about low-income families' not receiving the child tax credit from Bush's tax cut reflected unsound thinking. Overpopulation demands that no rational government provide economic incentives for further procreation. Six billion humans is way too many. Even if more people were needed to provide a larger labor force, we certainly should not be giving incentives to those individuals who seem to be least able to care for their children. The omission of the child tax credit from the tax-cut bill was arguably the best part of the legislation. MIKE WHITE Baltimore, Md.

Great Taste, More Filling

Thank you for the article on the band Radiohead and its new album, Hail to the Thief [MUSIC, June 9]. When rock groups record music for the sole purpose of making money, much of the creativity is lost, and it all seems to sound the same. The beauty that music can possess as an art form is missing from most of mainstream pop. But it is wonderful to hear Radiohead's originality and to be moved by the group's talent and artistry. I choose the music I listen to based not on what the musicians look like but on the depth and emotion that their music provides. I thank Radiohead for satisfying my auditory appetite in a world too often filled with sonic rice cakes. KIMBERLY PETTELLA Cumberland, R.I.

Trust Busted

In his Commentary, James Poniewozik mused about public cynicism toward the media in the wake of the firing of New York Times reporter Jayson Blair [ESSAY, June 9]. Poniewozik was off the mark in saying the real problem is a deficit of passion in the media. Distrust exists not because reporters aren't passionate but because they are not dispassionate. Even when their reporting is "accurate," the "facts" seem selectively chosen to further the reporter's personal ideology. Trust is the public's priority--not more passion. ELIZABETH SHOWN MILLS Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Go Tell Pharaoh

Re the municipal ordinance requiring any company doing business with the city of Los Angeles to disclose whether it has ever profited from slavery [NOTEBOOK, June 9]: If there is to be no statute of limitations in this regard, then the Jews should start preparing their case against Egypt. GEORGE MURPHY Lake Havasu City, Ariz.