The findings from a May 11 study in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrate that "efforts to implement a one-size-fits-all cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases simply is unnecessary and merely a ploy by the insurance industry to pad profit margins," Ken Suggs, president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, writes in a Washington Times letter to the editor. Suggs notes that the study found only 3% of medical malpractice claims did not involve injury, adding that the "research supports the wisdom displayed by the U.S. Senate this week when it rejected an attempt to apply a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases." He says the study "disproves once and for all claims made by large insurance companies that the civil justice system is overrun with frivolous litigation." Suggs concludes, "The attacks by the insurance industry represent a ploy to further enrich itself at the public's expense" (Suggs, Washington Times, 5/18).

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