It appears his hypocrisy knows no bounds

John Edwards said that there are two Americas and he is right.

There are Americans who have access to ob/gyns in their towns and there are those who don’t. From a November news release from The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists:

Increasing medical liability insurance premiums and the fear of lawsuits continue to force ob-gyns to change how they practice medicine, according to the latest medical liability survey conducted by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). As a result, many women across the country are going without basic health care and treatment of serious health conditions, as more ob-gyns are providing fewer services, retiring from practice completely, or relocating to areas where there are less liability concerns.

According to the ACOG survey, 70% of ob-gyns have made changes to their practice because of the lack of available or affordable medical liability insurance, and 65% have made changes because of the risk or fear of liability claims or litigation. Between 7-8% have stopped practicing obstetrics altogether because of either insurance affordability or availability issues or the risk or fear of being sued.

John Edwards made a mint suing ob/gyns for what is now considered “junk science.”

CNSNews.com first reported in January how Edwards won record jury verdicts and settlements in cases alleging that the botched treatment of women in labor and their deliveries caused infants to develop the brain disorder cerebral palsy.

Edwards specialized in these cases, which he characterized in his presidential campaign as battles on behalf of the common man against insurance companies.

But the cause of cerebral palsy long has been debated, and two new studies in 2003 further undermined the scientific premise of Edwards’ cases, CNSNews.com reported.

“There are some cases where the brain damage did occur at the time of delivery. But it’s really unusual. It’s really quite unusual,” Dr. Murray Goldstein, a neurologist and the medical director of the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Educational Foundation, told the news agency.

“The overwhelming majority of children that are born with developmental brain damage, the ob/gyn could not have done anything about it, could not have, not at this stage of what we know,” Goldstein stated.

Medical science increasingly is exonerating doctors in cases of labor and delivery where cerebral palsy resulted, medical and legal experts told CNSNews.com.

“At the end of the day, I verily believe we will find [the cause of cerebral palsy is] all genetic,” said Eldon L. Boisseau of the Kansas-based firm Turner and Boisseau.

Dr. John Freeman, a professor of neurology and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md., said “a great many of these cases are due to subtle infections of the child before birth.”

Nevertheless, some of Edwards’ critics say his extraordinary oratorical skills overcame the latest science, enabling him to persuade juries that doctors were at fault for the cerebral palsy in infants.

How does that impact young women?

Over 8% of ACOG Fellows have stopped practicing obstetrics because of the risk of liability claims.
Changes made by ACOG Fellows because of the risk of liability claims or fear of being sued:
Decreased the number of high-risk obstetric patients-33%
Stopped offering/performing VBACs—33%
Increased the number of cesarean deliveries—37%
Decreased the number of deliveries—15%
No longer practicing obstetrics—8%
Decreased gynecologic surgical procedures performed—16%
No longer doing major gynecologic surgery—5%
Stopped performing all surgery—2%
Over 7% of ACOG Fellows have stopped practicing obstetrics because of the affordability and/or availability of medical liability insurance.
Changes made by ACOG Fellows because of liability insurance costs and availability:
Decreased the number of high-risk obstetric patients—26%
Stopped offering/performing VBACs—26%
Increased the number of cesarean deliveries—29%
Decreased the number of deliveries—12%
No longer practicing obstetrics—7%
Decreased gynecologic surgical procedures performed—13%
No longer doing major gynecologic surgery—4%
Stopped performing all surgery—2%

John Edwards earns nearly $500,000 yearly as a consultant to an investment firm that keeps its hedge fund in the Cayman Islands. Did I mention that’s a part-time salary? The Wall Street Journal opines:

Let us say right up front that it’s terrific that John Edwards lives in a country where he can lose an election and still land a $480,000 part-time job as a consultant to an investment firm that keeps its hedge funds in the Cayman Islands as a tax shelter for its clients. This truly is the land of opportunity.

We’re also encouraged to hear that, according to the former Senator’s spokesman, “John Edwards is running for President to give every American the opportunities that he’s had.” While there may not be enough half-a-million-dollar-a-year part-time consulting gigs to go around just yet, the hedge fund industry is growing. And there’s always private equity if you find yourself, as Mr. Edwards described his 2005 circumstance, making $40,000 a year at an antipoverty think tank and wanting to learn something about “capital markets.” Thus did he turn, in his time of need, to Fortress Investment Group LLC, pride of the Caymans.

It would also be churlish to repeat the by now tired line about which of his “Two Americas” Mr. Edwards lives in–notwithstanding his $30 million in assets, about $16 million of which is invested in Fortress. And in any case, no one should have to apologize for his wealth and success.

And, obviously, only one of the Americas can afford $250+ haircuts.

I am a libertarian so I don’t have an issue with John Edwards working for a company that tries to help all American investors shield their wealth from the tax man. But, I’m also the wife of a doctor so I know what bad lawsuits and knee jerk regulations do to the cost of medicine. And, I have a major issue with the person who hypocritically divides America down the line of both issues while lining his own pockets.

John Edwards is campaigning on the idea that he can build an America that

lives up to its promise— one where we all share in prosperity at home and one that shows real moral leadership around the world. The next president faces tremendous challenges — from poverty and lack of health care, to energy and global warming, to fixing the mess in Iraq.

What he isn’t saying is that he contributed to your lack of healthcare, and if he is elected to office, he’ll make sure you don’t have the opportunity to shield your wealth from the government.

Two Americas indeed; his and the rest of ours.

~ by Miche on May 22, 2007.