Cheney warns Ohio of Edwards' connection to malpractice suits

John Kerry plans a pre-convention visit to Ohio.
COMBINED DISPATCHES
TOLEDO -- Vice President Dick Cheney told doctors that trial lawyers are largely to blame for rising health-care costs and that his opponent is an attorney "experienced at suing doctors."
Cheney, speaking Monday to a room full of doctors and supporters, said frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits have reached a crisis level.
"Some health-care costs that are passed onto patients are entirely needless," Cheney said. "This problem doesn't start in the waiting room, it doesn't start in operating room, this problem starts in the courtroom."
It has gotten to the point that it is damaging the nation's economy, he said.
"We should get the personal injury trial lawyers out of the practice of medicine," Cheney said during a 20-minute campaign speech at the Medical College of Ohio.
Accusing Edwards
Cheney pointed out that Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry's running mate, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, is a former trial lawyer who is "experienced at suing doctors."
"Together they are two of the most consistent opponents of liability reform in the United States Senate," Cheney said.
During a campaign stop earlier in the day in Missouri, Cheney said Kerry and Edwards opposed changes to medical malpractice because they are too close to trial lawyers.
Kerry campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri disputed Cheney's claim, saying that during the Democratic primary Kerry and Edwards proposed making lawyers prove the merit of a case before taking it to court.
Debating health care
It was the second time in just over two months that the Bush-Cheney team was in the state to tout its health-care proposals. President Bush spoke about health care when he was in Youngstown in late May.
The rising cost of medical liability is pushing doctors out of business, creating a bottleneck in the courts and leading to numerous unneeded medical procedures, Cheney said.
"Runaway litigation is driving doctors away from their patients when their patients need them the most," Cheney said.
Cheney said Bush has proposed a nationwide cap of $250,000 on non-economic damage awards that would go a long way toward reducing health-care costs.
Kerry to launch tour
Meanwhile, Kerry is planning a tour of several battleground states that will start Friday at his birthplace in Colorado and end next week with his nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Edwards will join him at the start of the tour and then campaign on his own before accepting the vice presidential nomination at the convention July 28. Kerry also will be nominated that night; he will give his acceptance speech July 29.
Kerry, Edwards and their families will launch the tour in Aurora, Colo., where Kerry was born in 1943 at an Army hospital. Kerry's father was stationed there at the time.
The Colorado stop and several others are designed to underscore Kerry's argument that he would do a better job than President Bush of protecting the nation's security. Kerry will meet with fellow veterans, including some who served with him in the Vietnam War, his campaign said Monday.
From Colorado, a state that has leaned Republican but that Kerry hopes to capture in November, the Massachusetts senator will head to Sioux City, Iowa; Columbus, Ohio; Cape Canaveral, Fla.; Norfolk, Va.; and Philadelphia.
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