MICRA Update: Trial Attorneys Launch Personal Attack on CMA President
When trial attorneys announced earlier this year that they were working to scrap California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), we warned that their campaign would be riddled with lies, misdirection, and below-the-belt shots designed to fool the public into thinking their efforts were anything more than an outright money grab.
Unfortunately, we didn’t know how right we would be.
Last week, Consumer Watchdog published a piece featuring the names of hundreds of California physicians who they claim are afraid to “pee in a cup,” while also personally targeting CMA president, Paul Phinney, MD, asking what he had to hide by opposing their greed-fueled initiative to gut MICRA. Oddly enough, the trial attorneys' mailer makes no mention of the proposed initiative’s attempt to more than quadruple MICRA’s cap on non-economic damages, and sticks to the provisions regarding substance abuse in the workplace.
This attack is a brazen one. It illustrates that the state’s trial lawyers and their ally, Consumer Watchdog, will stop at nothing to line their pockets through the inflated attorney fees that would be generated from lifting MICRA’s cap. MICRA opponents are drawing the battle lines early, and it appears that no lie is too great in their effort to overturn MICRA.
This attack, however, illustrates another fact: MICRA opponents are scared.
In the months since trial lawyers launched their latest attack, California physicians and other allies have rallied to MICRA’s defense at a near-historic rate. As a result, Consumer Watchdog is now personally targeting those physicians who have stepped forward to defend MICRA, claiming their opposition to the greed-driven ballot initiative shows they must “have something to hide.” Their message to California physicians is simple: “If you defend your patients' access to care, we’ll go after you, and your practice, personally.”
We cannot afford to allow these personal hits and intimidation tactics to prove successful.
MICRA needs your support now more than ever. By donating to CALPAC’s defense of MICRA today, you can make sure that California voters know the truth about MICRA: that it keeps practices open, premiums affordable and helps ensure that they and their families have access to quality care in California.
We will win this fight, but we need your help to do so.
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