Tort reform no laughing matter .

• Author: Herin, Nancy J.
• Position: Letters to the Editor

Your Troubletown cartoon in the December issue points out--better than any article I have read--that blaming personal injury lawyers for exorbitantly priced, dangerous prescription drugs is ludicrous. This is a ruse deflecting attention from the real culprits: raw capitalism, a lust for profit, and an FDA that is asleep at the wheel.

Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical industry has succeeded, after years of advertising and lobbying, in convincing the American public that lawyers are to blame. Thus it has achieved a coup de grace: It will now be a snap for the industry's cronies--the White House and Republican Congress--to enact more tort reform legislation. Lax...