when running for president he speaks of tort reform but

in the past he sued ob doctors for millions ; making money

from the backs of crippled babies and pushing doctors to

other states.

now he speaks of tort reform; the hypocrisy is amazing.

I thought for a moment you were talking about the guy who claims to speak to dead people

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lol what happened to that guy. Is he still around?

i dont know, but i was always curious to go on one of his shows.

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Dr. Scott
Internal Medicine
PGY-1

AUC Forum Moderator

if a doctor is negligent, is a malpractice suit not justified? i am curious to see the cases that edwards sued to see if they were frivolous or not.

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But remember that, even when those who move you be kings or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God you cannot say "but I was told by others to do thus" or that "virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that.

this is from wiki. i know, it may not be entirely accurate, but im too lazy to actually look up the actual court briefs:

After law school, Edwards clerked for a federal judge and in 1978 became an associate at the Nashville law firm of Dearborn & Ewing, doing primarily trial work, defending a Nashville bank and other corporate clients. The Edwards family returned to North Carolina in 1981, settling in the capital of Raleigh where he joined the firm of Tharrington, Smith & Hargrove.[11]
In 1984 Edwards was assigned to a medical malpractice lawsuit that had been perceived to be unwinnable; the firm had only accepted it as a favor to an attorney and state senator who did not want to keep it. Nevertheless, Edwards won a $3.7 million verdict on behalf of his client, who had suffered permanent brain and nerve damage after a doctor prescribed a drug overdose of the anti-alcoholism drug Antabuse during alcohol aversion therapy.[12] In other cases, Edwards sued the American Red Cross three times, alleging transmission of AIDS through tainted blood products, resulting in a confidential settlement each time, and defended a North Carolina newspaper against a libel charge.[11]
In 1985, Edwards represented a five-year-old child born with cerebral palsy whose doctor did not choose to perform an immediate Caesarean delivery when a fetal monitor showed she was in distress. Edwards won a $6.5 million verdict for his client, but five weeks later, the presiding judge sustained the verdict but overturned the award on grounds that it was "excessive" and that it appeared "to have been given under the influence of passion and prejudice," adding that in his opinion "the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict." He offered the plaintiffs $3.25 million, half of the jury's award, but the child's family appealed the case and received $4.25 million in a settlement.[11] Winning this case established the North Carolina precedent of physician and hospital liability for failing to determine if the patient understood the risks of a particular procedure.[12]
After this trial, Edwards gained national attention as a plaintiff's lawyer. He filed at least twenty similar lawsuits in the years following and achieved verdicts and settlements of more than $60 million for his clients. These successful lawsuits were followed by similar ones across the country. When asked about an increase in Caesarean deliveries nationwide, perhaps to avoid similar medical malpractice lawsuits, Edwards said, "The question is, would you rather have cases where that happens instead of having cases where you don't intervene and a child either becomes disabled for life or dies in utero?"[11]
In 1993, Edwards began his own firm in Raleigh (now named Kirby & Holt) with a friend, David Kirby. He became known as the top plaintiffs' attorney in North Carolina.[11] The biggest case of his legal career was a 1997 product liability lawsuit against Sta-Rite, the manufacturer of a defective pool drain cover. The case involved a three-year-old girl[13] who was disemboweled by the suction power of the pool drain pump when she sat on an open pool drain whose protective cover other children at the pool had removed, after the swim club had failed to install the cover properly. Despite 12 prior suits with similar claims, Sta-Rite continued to make and sell drain covers lacking warnings. Sta-Rite protested that an additional warning would have made no difference because the pool owners already knew the importance of keeping the cover secured.
In his closing arguments, Edwards spoke to the jury for an hour and a half and referenced his son, Wade, who had been killed shortly before testimony began. Mark Dayton, editor of North Carolina Lawyers Weekly, would later call it "the most impressive legal performance I have ever seen."[14] The jury awarded the family $25 million, the largest personal injury award in North Carolina history. The company settled for the $25 million while the jury was deliberating additional punitive damages, rather than risk losing an appeal. For their part in this case, Edwards and law partner David Kirby earned the Association of Trial Lawyers of America's national award for public service.[12] The family said that they hired Edwards over other attorneys because he alone had offered to accept a smaller percentage as fee unless the award was unexpectedly high, while all of the other lawyers they spoke with said they required the full one-third fee. The size of the jury award was unprecedented, and Edwards did receive the standard one-third plus expenses fee typical of contingency cases. The family was so impressed with his intelligence and commitment[11] that they volunteered for his Senate campaign the next year.
After Edwards won a large verdict against a trucking company whose worker had been involved in a fatal accident, the North Carolina legislature passed a law prohibiting such awards unless the employee's actions had been specifically sanctioned by the company.[11]
In December 2003, during his first presidential campaign, Edwards (with John Auchard) published Four Trials, a biographical book focusing on cases from his legal career. The success of the Sta-Rite case and his son's death (Edwards had hoped his son would eventually join him in private law practice) prompted Edwards to leave the legal profession and seek public office.

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Dr. Scott
Internal Medicine
PGY-1

AUC Forum Moderator

Very successful chap in his field. A lawschool professor once said...."get used to bill for your services if you want to become a lawyer, we don't run charity"

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...."Beyond jealosy and betrayal; beyond hate and desire; beyond pain and death; lies the ultimate revelation; the final choice; the end; because the fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth" Neon Genesis Evangelion

I don't think I have not heard of a politician who is not a hypocrite. John Edwards is no different, he is fabulously wealthy but talks about helping the average citizen, I really doubt it. One thing regarding this year is that Obama is probably the first politician in America in a long time that is not as bad, although he is not perfect either.

So by your logic if you become rich you no longer can care about the average citizen? If you new Edwards background he grew up average working class family. His dad was textile worker. He was the first person from his family to attend college and was far from privileged . He knows what the average guy is going thru to b/c that's how he grew up and got into college and law school based on his own skills and not by a legacy admission with average grades like I current president.

I'm seeing the same thing from the suits on wall street this week. The CEOs and hedge fund managers have been analyzing the economy on CNBC, and alot of them are talking about regulation, mainly so the gov't will continue aid and bail outs. But that's not what they were thinking last year when they were getting their 20 mill bonus check. Sorry to get offtopic.

I actually like John Edwards cause he fights for the lil guy. His two Americas speech really got me behind him. The two people I know from NC are split about him. On one hand they adore his character and personality. They support his fight against poverty. But then they were ticked that he bought a multi-million dollar house next to the UNC campus.

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Ross U. '10
Rutgers U. '05