Santorum pushed to limit malpractice awards but sought larger payout for wife
By Carol D. Leonnig
January 27, 2012
On the campaign trail, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum says he will push to limit payments to victims in medical malpractice lawsuits, which he blames for unnecessarily driving up health-care costs. And over the course of his two decades in politics, he repeatedly spoke in favor of capping such awards.
But Santorum testified in support of his wife when she filed a medical malpractice suit in 1999 that sought $500,000, twice the cap in his 1994 legislative proposal. Karen Santorum claimed that a Fairfax chiropractor had left her with a permanent back injury that probably would result in a lifetime of pain medication and restricted mobility.
This fall, while campaigning in Iowa, Santorum told reporters that he backed some limits but that his wife did not sue for “pain and suffering, which is the area I think we should cap.”
Although the lawsuit did not seek a specific figure for pain and suffering, the former senator testified in the case about the emotional and physical toll on his wife and how that justified a sizable monetary award, transcripts show. The judge in the case also made clear that the majority of the $350,000 the jury awarded the family was largely for unspecific losses and pain and suffering, an amount he concluded was “excessive.”
Santorum’s campaign advisers and spokesman did not respond to repeated requests by phone and e-mail for comment. But he has said in the past that there was no conflict between his testimony in his wife’s medical suit and his push to curtail payments to victims of medical malpractice...
For the full article, go to:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/santorum-pushed-to-limit-malpractice-awards-but-sought-larger-payout-for-wife/2012/01/19/gIQANXQeVQ_story.html
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