Tort Reform Black Eye in Washington

As President Bush promotes federal tort reform, a Washington state physician-led initiative is marred by relevation that a doctor dropped a four-months pregnant patient who refused to succumb to his lobbying for her signature on the initiative. In reporting on the President's initiative, most news accounts fail to acknowledge the 1986-87 round of tort reforms implemented by most states; instead, they treat the story in a vacuum. See Seattle Times, TheDenverChannel, Oregon Live (AP)