Thursday, January 11, 2007

THE SILENT SOCIAL REVOLUTION (The lawyer explosion, Robt Surrick)

THE SILENT SOCIAL REVOLUTION

While liberals and conservatives are bashing each other over Iraq, tax cuts, abortion, George Dubya and other hot button issues, a silent social revolution has taken place in these United States under the radar screen. It is the proliferation of lawyers and the destruction they are causing. I practiced law in Pennsylvania for almost forty years.

When admitted to the Bar in Delaware County in 1961, I was the 138th lawyer in a county of 500,000 people. That's one lawyer for every 3,623 residents. Forty years later, there are still 500,000 people in the county and over 1,500 lawyers. That is one lawyer for every 333 residents. In Pennsylvania, in 1972, there were 12 million people and 13,057 lawyers. The math here is one lawyer for every 919 people. In 2002, there are still 12 million people but now there are 54,598 lawyers. The math in this case is one lawyer for every 219 residents.

In a static population, the number of lawyers quadrupled in just 30 years. Read on to find out how it happened and what the result has been. Believe me, it adversely affects every citizen of this country.It happened for laudable social reasons. In the sixties and early seventies, the practice of law was a club for white males only. In countering this unacceptable inequality, the law schools saw an opportunity to increase revenues and admitted virtually every applicant who could afford the tuition, and gave grants to women and minority applicants. When I took the Bar Examination in 1960, it was traditional that only 50% passed. The standards were lowered and the pass rate went to over 95%.

As the ranks of lawyers swelled, there was ferocious competition to make a living practicing law. New causes of action were created to feed the herd. The number of lawsuits skyrocketed. Lawyers were crawling all over each other for the pot of gold at the end of a lawsuit. The competition had the predictable result of lawyers cutting ethical and even legal corners. A judge teaching ethics at Temple Law School once told me of a class where the students wanted to debate whether or not it would be worth it to lose their license "if the hit was big enough."

Public perception of lawyers has dropped precipitously. In this year's Gallup Poll, only 16% of those surveyed rated the legal profession as "honest" and "ethical."Lawyers began to target whole industries. In the sixties and early seventies, Pennsylvania was the center of this nation's small aircraft industry. Lycoming Engines, Piper Aircraft, Cherokee and Cessna employed tens of thousands in the rolling hills of north central Pennsylvania. When a small plane went down, there was usually a fatality. Fatalities are worth big bucks in a courtroom. The number of lawsuits against small aircraft manufacturers surged. What is left in north central Pennsylvania? Empty factories and high unemployment, that's what's left.

In my recently published book, LAWYERS, JUDGES AND JOURNALISTS: The Corrupt and the Corruptors, I also examine the medical malpractice crisis sweeping our country. It started in Pennsylvania. Nineteen states have now been rated "in crisis" by the American Medical Association and the number is increasing. "In crisis" means that the public is at risk. It is at risk because significant doctors in the high-risk specialties such as ob/gyn, orthopedics, neurosurgery and general surgery have left their state or curtailed services. Why? Only one reason. Because medical liability premiums have skyrocketed as insurance carriers have gone out of business, or stopped selling malpractice insurance completely. The states "in crisis" are New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, Ohio, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Nevada, Washington, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Oregon. In Chester County where I am writing this, there is no longer a neurosurgeon to cover the three hospitals. There is anecdotal evidence that two people have recently died of a subdural hematoma while being transported by ambulance to another county.

In my book, I outline how this came to pass. A group of lawyers banded together in 1970 to form the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association known as PATLA. They formed an alliance with a justice of the Supreme Court (Pennsylvania's highest court) named Rolf Larsen and their power and money grew. Larsen was elected in 1977 and by 1980 his unethical political activities caused the Chief Justice to ask the Judicial Inquiry and Review Board to investigate. I was serving on that Board at the time as an appointee of Governor Thornburgh. I voted to remove Larsen in 1983 but the five judge majority on that board voted in lockstep to dismiss the charges. Ten years later, in 1993, Larsen was impeached, convicted and removed from office, but you will have to read the book for that story.

The trial lawyers saw the mother lode in medical malpractice lawsuits and the suing started. By the 1990s Philadelphia had a huge backlog of medical malpractice cases. The doctors' insurance carriers tried to take the cases out of Philadelphia to the counties where they belonged, but the Supreme Court, by now in PATLA's thrall, stepped in and blocked the exits. The jury verdicts began to swell in number and size. Jurors with a lottery mentality handed out multi-million dollar awards. The average med mal verdict in Philadelphia is now over one million dollars and verdicts against doctors and hospitals now reach up to forty million dollars. These dollars, formerly available for health care, are now lining the lawyers' pockets. The result? Hospitals are closing trauma centers and ob/gyn clinics. Doctors are leaving Pennsylvania in droves. Over sixteen hundred physicians, mostly high-risk specialists, have fled Pennsylvania, retired early, given up medicine or severely curtailed services in the last two years alone. There is no incentive to continue to practice medicine. There are only three orthopedic surgeons left here under 35 years of age. Half of the physicians in PA are over the age of 50. Pennsylvania has seven medical schools, some world class. What resident at these medical schools in these specialties in his or her right mind would choose to practice here? On August 25, 2002, The New York Times reported that medical malpractice premiums have doubled or even tripled for some doctors in the last few years, rising to as high as $200,000 a year.

But it is not just Pennsylvania. It is happening in every state where the legislators have sat on their hands at the behest of the trial lawyers who pour millions of dollars into lobbying legislators and in judicial election campaigns. I predict that some of the readers of this newsletter will have a loved one die in the next twenty years because of the absence of a nearby trauma center or specialist in an emergency. So, in the final analysis, it is not just about money-it is about the disappearing doctor, which is creating a health care delivery crisis that affects every man, woman and child in this country.

Dickinson School of Law recently merged with Penn State University. A memo to the Board of Trustees from the new Dean talked of moving the law school from Carlisle, Pennsylvania to the main campus at State College. The reason for the move? So that the law school could EXPAND! When I graduated in 1960, there were about sixty in my class. The first year class in 2002 was two-hundred and eighty! And they want to expand. Why? We are being overrun by lawyers and the law schools want to pump out more lawyers. The reason is the law schools are no longer serving the profession as they once did-they have become profit centers. Make no mistake about it, the expansion of the law schools is ego and money driven. In an interesting contrast, medical school admissions nationwide have dropped for the sixth year in a row! What are all these newly minted lawyers doing? They are suing McDonalds on behalf of overweight clients. They are suing the airlines when a client gets a blood clot. They will sue any entity or person with deep pockets in the hope of making a buck. Take a look at your newspaper, any day, and read about the lawsuits and multi-million dollar jury verdicts. And remember, it is only the big verdicts that get reported. Most cases never reach a courtroom or the public eye - but the smaller, quieter settlements cost every citizen in some way.You might ask how does this affect you?

According to Larry Klayman, General Counsel to Judicial Watch (who I don't usually agree with but he sometimes gets his facts right), there is a "litigation tax" of 2.5% on every product you purchase. He claims the tort system costs every individual $1,200 annually. This "tax" adds $500 for every new car bought, increases vaccine costs by twenty times and inflates the price of a pacemaker by $3,000. He notes lawsuits caused 36% of corporations to discontinue products, 15% to lay off workers and 8% to close plants. I would note that if only 10% of Pennsylvania's doctors close their practice, and the statistics show this trend, and if each of those doctors employ 3-4 people, that is a loss of 18,500 jobs. The Manhatten Institute recently wrote that lawsuits are producing revenue for the trial lawyers of 40 billion a year. The revenue being generated is 50% more than the earnings of Microsoft and of Intel and twice that of Coke Cola.

As best I can tell, there are only four surefire ways to become wealthy. First, you can get money the old-fashioned way by inheriting it. Second, you can win the lottery. Third, you can work for it, but that doesn't get many people wealthy. Fourth, you can sue some doctor or some corporation or some hospital and hit the jackpot. And make no mistake about it - the easiest thing in today's world is to find a lawyer willing to sue anyone-on a 40% contingent fee, plus court costs and expenses, of course.

It truly breaks my heart to see this once proud and honorable profession become the subject of ridicule and derision. Lawyer jokes abound and for good reason. The practice of law has become ugly. As I note in my book, I don't know a single lawyer over fifty who is enjoying the practice.Are there any solutions to this serious problem. It took a long time to develop and will take a long time to solve. In a future issue, I will offer solutions to this very serious problem. Keep reading the Washington Spectator.If you want to keep current on what is happening in the health care delivery crisis, ask Donna Baver Rovito at ROVSPA@aol.com to add you to her two or three times a week email newsletter, Liability Update, a service she provides as part of the Legislation Committee of the PA Medical Society Alliance.

LAWYERS, JUDGES AND JOURNALISTS: The Corrupt and the Corruptors, can be purchased online at www.surrickbook.com, where you can read sample chapters, or by sending $23.00 which includes shipping and tax to surrickbook, Box 42, West Chester, PA 19381.

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