http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/11/national/11TORT.html?hpNow that the Senate has blocked President Bush's plan to cap jury awards in medical malpractice cases, the battle will only intensify during next year's elections. At its essence, the fight comes down to doctors versus lawyers.
In Washington politics, that means Bill Frist versus John Edwards.
Dr. Frist, a heart-lung transplant surgeon who relishes his role as the Senate's only physician, has deftly used his new job as Republican leader to press Mr. Bush's case that frivolous lawsuits are driving up malpractice premiums, putting doctors out of business and patients at risk. The quashing of the bill Wednesday by Democrats was expected, but now Republicans plan to take their argument on the road, especially in states like Pennsylvania, Nevada, Florida and West Virginia, where the malpractice crisis is acute.
Senator Edwards, a Democratic presidential contender, is precisely the kind of man Mr. Bush and Dr. Frist rail against: a plaintiff's lawyer who has made millions representing victims of malpractice. Following Wednesday's Senate vote, Republicans in his home state, North Carolina, are already attacking him as a "lackey for trial lawyers" — a message Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster, calls "the political subtext" of the malpractice debate.
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