Majority Report: Ehrlich Declares War on Maryland Doctors and Patients

Democrats Solve Medical Malpractice Crisis
“Democrats overcame strong Republican resistance and passed a compromise bill in the predawn hours yesterday with margins large enough to fend off Ehrlich's threatened veto -- completing the primary mission of the state's first special legislative session in 12 years,” The Washington Post’s Matt Mosk and John Wagner report.

Doctors Disappointed with Ehrlich’s Veto Threat: Docs ‘Stood-up’
Mosk and Wagner continue, “After spending the better part of 2004 rallying behind Ehrlich in his push for a solution to rising malpractice insurance rates, [Doctors] found themselves disagreeing with the governor's plans for a veto. ‘I really hope, in the spirit of compromise, he swallows his pride and signs the bill,’ said Mark Seigel, a Montgomery County obstetrician-gynecologist and past president of the Maryland State Medical Society… ‘I would be very disappointed if the governor vetoes this bill.’ Ann Burke, an obstetrician-gynecologist in Silver Spring, said she could not imagine why Ehrlich would veto the bill after all it took to get it passed.   ‘It's very disappointing, because I feel we as the physician community did exactly what he asked us to do,’ Burke said. ‘We got ourselves organized. We got ourselves mobilized. . . . We did everything that he asked us to do, and now it looks like he's going to stand us up at the altar.’

Ehrlich distorting truth about Democratic Plan:  Legislature’s Bill has significant reforms.
Scrambling for a message that resonates with voters, Governor Ehrlich has repeatedly claimed that the comprise bill put forth by the legislature, "was almost nothing in the way of tort reform.", “is legal-reform light," and “light years from where we need to be,"  All of those statements by Ehrlich are political acts of desperation.  “To suggest the complex 79-page bill does not include significant reform is untruthful,” The Baltimore Sun writes. “The legislature's bill, an amended form of the House proposal, blends legal and patient safety initiatives with insurance reforms. Among its major points: Freezing the cap on awards for pain and suffering at $650,000. Reducing the so-called double cap on wrongful death awards to a 1.25 cap, equivalent to $812,500. Toughening standards for expert witnesses.  Making doctors' apologies (but not admissions of fault) inadmissible in court. Restricting calculations of past medical expenses to costs actually paid and allowing judges to use a neutral expert to determine future medical expenses and lost wages,” Gazette reporter Catherine Dolinski concisely points out.

Mr. Ehrlich Play’s “The Governor” On TV
Sen. Brian E. Frosh, the author of the Senate version of the bill was upset that the governor was threatening a veto before the final bill was even written and that his aides were nowhere to be found during negotiations. The only way legislators knew what he was thinking, Frosh said, was by watching television. ‘The skeptical person would wonder if it isn't all for show,’ Frosh said.  ‘He called us into session. We came. We did our job and he just had press conferences. ... I don't think the governor is acting as he should. We have to be grown-ups in any case,’ The Baltimore Sun Reports.

We’ve all seen this movie before:
Ehrlich the Obstructionist —Maryland’s “Do-Nothing Governor”
It’s like Déjà vu all over again.  Governor Ehrlich has brought Washington-Style Gridlock to Annapolis and unable to accomplish anything.  Gazette reporters, Thomas Dennison and Douglas Tallman write about “the scene in Annapolis in the wake of the Ehrlich administration's aborted effort to enact medical malpractice reform. It was the same scene that played out in 2003 after Ehrlich's failed effort to legalize slot machines and again in April after slots failed a second time.”

Who’s to Blame? Governor Gridlock.
“ROBERT L. EHRLICH Jr. will now put into motion the First Law of Failure, which is: Find someone to blame. The governor of Maryland is practiced at this. Last year, he demonized House Speaker Michael E. Busch when slot machine legislation failed. As this year ends, he'll blame all Democratic legislators for the failure of medical malpractice relief - and never mind that they offered him a reasonable compromise,” The Baltimore Sun’s Michael Olesker writes.  Ehrlich’s response: No Comment.   “…The governor has only himself to blame. Once again, Marylanders have been poorly served by Mr. Ehrlich's rigid, doctrinaire attitude toward state finances. With this kind of leadership vacuum, the legislature had little choice but to cobble together a respectable, if less-than-perfect, alternative,” The Baltimore Sun writes. “Once again, the governor has missed his chance to strike a constructive deal with the legislative majority,” The Washington Post writes.