US Senate attempt at malpractice limits fails.

In a rare display of common sense, a sufficient number of Republican senators joined with the Democratic minority and defeated two Senate bills aimed at limiting malpractice awards.

You can read the article in the online NY Times here.

As I've said before, tort and malpractice reform are in my opinion the biggest single waste of legislative energy and capital the Republican's can engage in, with the only beneficiaries of "tort reform" being casualty companies and malpractice insurance pools. It's telling to notice that one of the Republican senators voting against reform, Senator Michael D. Crapo, WY, lives in the state which last year defeated tort reform on a state wide level, despite the fact that Wyoming is probably one of the single most Republican and conservative states in the Union.

The average American, let alone the average Republican, is either ambivalent or opposed to attempts to limit citizens rights in the civil justice system, and it would be wise for the savants running the Republican party in the house and senate to stop wasting our time and energy bringing up these bills which do nothing but appease very narrow, but wealthy, special interests.