The independent., September 16, 2004, Page Page 2, Image 2

Page 2
The INDEPENDENT, September 16, 2004
The
INDEPENDENT
Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published on the
first and third Thursdays of each month, by Public Opinion
Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064, as a
free newspaper. Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Editor,
Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410, email: noni@
the-independent.net Display Advertising, Clark McGaugh,
email: clark@the-independent.net Classified Advertising,
Rebecca McGaugh, email: rebecca@the-independent.net
Opinion
Cap on awards for major
medical errors is wrong
When prospective parents have been eagerly await-
ing their child’s birth, how do you think they feel – how
would you feel — when a doctor ignores, or doesn’t
look for, signs that the fetus is in peril? How should
they feel when they find out that their brain-damaged
or stillborn child is the result of a malfunctioning doctor
or other practitioner?
Should those parents be limited to a maximum of
$500,000 in “noneconomic” damages, as Ballot Mea-
sure 35 would require?
Some of the definitions of noneconomic damages in
this ballot measure are “mental suffering, inconven-
ience and interference with normal activities.” It’s true
that these are noneconomic, in the strictest sense, but
what about where such situations overlap into eco-
nomic considerations – such as how much it will cost
to care for that child throughout the 30 to 50 years of
its lifetime, or how much that child would have earned
in a lifetime, or how the physical and emotional stress
of caring for such a child will affect the parents’ eco-
nomic well-being.
Those campaigning in support of Measure 35 say
that it will help reign in healthcare costs, a truly ridicu-
lous statement. In fact, lawsuits from medical malprac-
tice cases have not increased in Oregon, and limiting
claims will have no impact on malpractice insurance
premiums. In most states where caps have been en-
acted, insurance rates have increased more rapidly
than in states, like Oregon, where there are no caps.
What is needed is insurance reform. Unlike other ar-
eas, the insurance industry is exempt from antitrust
laws. Insurers are free to agree on prices, to raise
prices in concert and to engage in other anti-competi-
tive activities that are against the law in other indus-
tries.
A system that allows jurors to make judgements that
best reflect their society may actually promote quality
care, increase patient safety and reduce medical mis-
takes. If there is a “villain” in medical malpractice, it lies
with a system that allows insurance companies, rather
than health care professionals, to determine what is or
isn’t good medical practice.
We recommend a NO vote on Measure 35.
Opinion
Oregon Economy in "Serious Relapse"
An analysis of employment
figures released last week sug-
gests that Oregon’s economy
“had a serious relapse,” ac-
cording to the Oregon Center
for Public Policy. Figures re-
leased September 9 by the
state employment agency
show that non-farm payroll in
Oregon fell by 900 while unem-
ployment increased to 7.4 per-
cent. The Silverton-based pub-
lic policy institute noted that this
is the first increase in an Au-
gust unemployment rate since
August 2001.
“We’re now 45 months and
counting since Oregon’s down-
turn began,” said Charles She-
ketoff, executive director of the
Oregon Center for Public Poli-
cy, referring to the time since
November 2000, when employ-
ment peaked in Oregon. “It took
us only 20 months to pull out of
the previous recession in the
early 1990s,” he noted.
The Oregon Center for Pub-
lic Policy, a non-profit research
institute in Silverton, reviewed
the new jobs numbers and
found that Oregon has 21,000
fewer jobs than November
2000, before Oregon started
losing jobs.
Sheketoff noted that there’s
been a 5.8 percent growth in
the working age population
since November 2000. “If Ore-
gon’s job growth had kept up
with the growth in our working
age population since Novem-
ber 2000, we’d have 114,000
more employed Oregonians
than we have today,” said
Sheketoff.
“No matter how you view the
numbers, it is perfectly clear
that Oregon’s economy had a
serious relapse last month,”
said Sheketoff.
“This is one more example
of how the Bush Administra-
tion’s ‘Jobs and Growth’ tax cut
has failed Oregon,” Sheketoff
noted. “Oregon’s unemployed
people need public invest-
ments that create jobs and help
maintain families in times of
hardship, not tax cuts for the
wealthy,” he added.
The Oregon Center for Public Policy
uses research and analysis to advance
policies and practices that improve the
economic and social prospects of low-
and moderate-income Oregonians, the
majority of Oregonians.
The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and
judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and
whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be
pronounced the very definition of tyranny."
— James Madison. Federalist 47