Elect Mr. Edwards........go ahead........

[JustRalph]

Mr. Edwards being elected as vice president has the lawyers licking their chops. he can be a potential tie breaker in the Senate when any legal reform bills are voted on. Read the articles below for some perspective on how Mr. Edwards aquired his wealth..........and how some people are effected by his type of legal action.

I find this part of the article very telling.........

"Like many Democrats, Mr. Edwards has benefited from the generosity of fellow trial lawyers, who have given millions of dollars to Mr. Edwards' political campaigns and other political endeavors. "


http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040816-011234-1949r.htm

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/219-08122004-346845.html

[kenwoodallpromos]

Mass gov. is Republican; last NC Senator elected was Republican; so Repubs will still rule, insuring gridlock and Exec Orders and Atty Gen lawsuits.

[Lance]

Kenwood. That's twice now. Please explain. Do you think US senators run North Carolina?

[kenwoodallpromos]

I have heard Edwards was about to get beat for re-election in NC. I assume voters are close to the middle of the road.
There is a Demo Gov in NC now.
It just looks like the USA Senate balance will noit change to put Demos in charge.
A lot of states seem to fdip flop as to what party is in charge- maybe that is good if it means the parties are closer to the center.

[JustRalph]

You think guys like Edwards don't cause harm to people.......



read this article........and BTW....don't break you leg in the Desert north of Los Angeles........you won't find a doctor...........

E.R. to reject orthopedic cases

By Karen Maeshiro
Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- Starting today, Antelope Valley Hospital will send emergency orthopedic patients to other hospitals because there are not enough orthopedic surgeons to provide on-call services in its emergency room.
The 4-1 decision Monday by the hospital board to suspend orthopedic services means that patients will be taken to Lancaster Community Hospital or sent out of the Antelope Valley to facilities such as UCLA Medical Center, West Los Angeles, or elsewhere.

"Until we do have enough physicians, we felt it was in the best interest of the community to make that decision. We want to stress that we came to this decision in conjunction with the medical staff, the board and administration," hospital spokesman Ed Callahan said. "We felt we were doing a disservice and having a patient-safety issue if we did not take action."

Of the half-dozen or so orthopedic surgeons in the Antelope Valley who have privileges at the hospital, only one has agreed to provide on-call services one day a week.

The others are past the age of 60, when hospital bylaws state doctors need not provide on-call emergency room service, or they do not practice locally, or they want the hospital to double their on-call pay to $1,500 a day, which the financially troubled hospital can't afford, hospital officials said.

"This is something that 10 years ago every physician did for free because it was their community responsibility," director June Snow said. "Now they won't do it for free because their liability insurance has gone up, and the number of uninsured patients they see in the emergency room has gone up. They've been leaning on the hospital to make up the gap. There's only so much you can do. There comes a time where you can't do it anymore."

In July, the hospital, which makes on-call payments to doctors in nine specialties, raised its daily pay from $350 to $2,000 for on-call obstetricians.

General surgeons are also asking for an increase in their on-call payments, officials said.

By not providing orthopedics services, Antelope Valley Hospital officials say they can transfer emergency patients to other hospitals that do provide such care and avoid potentially long waits while the staff tries to find a doctor willing to come in.

Callahan said hospital officials have begun aggressively recruiting orthopedic surgeons to the Antelope Valley. The last new orthopedic physician came to the Antelope Valley in 1995, he said.

"For nine years, we have not been able to attract new orthopedic surgeons and have them stay here," Callahan said. "The effort should have begun five years ago. We had no plan for recruitment, and now it's catching up to us."

Director Steve Fox cast the dissenting vote against ending emergency orthopedic service.

"I voted against the termination because they are treating the symptom and not the cause. ... Physicians are not doing (on-call service) ... for a number of reasons. One is they are overworked, and the hospital is not doing a good enough job of recruitment."

Fox said Antelope Valley doctors have some cause for complaint about compensation for on-call service.

"They don't want money for themselves. It's to offset higher insurance premiums that they are being hit with and to cover unfunded patients," Fox said.

"This is not against the doctors. I understand why they are doing this, why they feel they need the money. They are taking care of more indigent patients. All the trauma comes to A.V. Those are people who frequently have bad outcomes, and they sue," Snow said.

Industry reports indicate there's a struggle over providing on-call backup services.

At many hospitals, attempts to require on-call coverage by physicians with staff privileges have been met with threats of resignation and demands for large monetary stipends, according to a 2001 report in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

"In some cases, these stipends represent legitimate compensation for disproportionately burdened specialists; however, in others, they drain resources away from other safety-net services and provoke similar demands by other members of the medical staff," according to the report.

Meanwhile, the emergency room has become the de facto safety net for growing numbers of the uninsured and under-insured people. In Los Angeles County, one of every three adults is uninsured. Statewide, one in five is uninsured, officials said

try this one........if you want more from the Eastern half of the country..........

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_16_53/ai_76915715

[Tom]

The libs are great ones to clamor for better health care, but truth be known, it becasue of leeches like Edwads, who is noting more than an ambulence chaser, that drove the cost of health care through the roof. Like Kerry, Edwards is in it for the money.
Funny how the people doing the most crying about the rich people in this country are amoung the richest there are....Teddy the "fish" Kennedy and Kerry the gigilo got their fortunes handed to them and never worked for them (well, Kerry probably thought it was work sniffing out one rich woman after another to take care of him).