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Thursday, May 11, 2006

Excellent Op-Ed piece

What follows is an excellent op-ed piece written by a friend in Tampa after former U.S. Secretary of State James Baker appeared on Larry King Live on CNN recently...


OP-ED:

Larry King is nothing if not cordial to his guests. Last night his guests were two very sympathetic figures – a grandfather and his daughter, discussing the drowning death of a seven year old girl. The grandfather explained that their family tragedy could have been prevented by the installation of a drain guard.

The grandfather is the former Secretary of State, James A. Baker, III. His granddaughter’s death has him lobbying for legislation promoting pool safety. In June 2002, Graham Baker was entrapped by a pool drain and drowned. The description of the event is horrifying. As Secretary Baker put it, “Our little Graham was entrapped in a pool. The suction from the drain held her to the bottom of the pool and drowned her.”

Baker went on to describe how easy and how inexpensive it is to prevent drain entrapment. “A drain cover that would prevent entrapment I think costs something in the neighborhood of $60.” Baker also noted “And, of course, you can't put a dollar value on the life of even one child.”

Midway through the interview, Nancy Baker disclosed that her daughter’s death had led to litigation.

Nothing changes one’s perspective like walking in another man’s shoes. As Atticus Finch explains in To Kill a Mockingbird, “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

John Edwards learned that lesson a long time ago. The former North Carolina Senator represented families of victims – like Baker’s granddaughter – who had been irreparably harmed by the carelessness of others. His clients included the Lakey family. Five year old Valerie Lakey was entrapped in a pool drain in 1993, nine years before Baker’s granddaughter died. Valerie had her intestines ripped away from her body, but did not die. Edwards learned that at least twelve other children had suffered similar injuries, all from being sucked into or entrapped by pool drains.

In the nine years between Lakey’s tragic accident and the drowning of Graham Baker, Republicans of all shapes and sizes ran around the country enacting so-called “tort reform.” Virtually every reform makes it harder for people like Graham Baker’s family to get justice for the preventable deaths of their children. And make no mistake, by limiting the amount of damages recoverable in personal injury lawsuits, Republicans are passing laws that will lead to more dead and injured children —all to garner the political and financial support of business interests.

Business interests and their Republican mouthpieces argue that business can be trusted to protect the public, and that the tort system really only benefits lawyers. Unfortunately, the swimming pool lobby hasn’t gotten around to eradicating the preventable risk of being sucked into a pool drain in the thirty years it has been aware of the problem. Secretary Baker – a lawyer himself – told Larry King he was unaware of the risk.

Republican strategists think of civil justice reform as a juicy political issue. The media see the battle in terms of the lawyers versus business. But the 61st Secretary of State, James A. Baker III has spent some time in the skin of a victim as the result of losing his granddaughter. Deep down, he knows that, in the words of John Edwards, "The responsibility we have toward our children...is a most awesome responsibility." We should make it easier to sue companies that harm children, not harder. The law should impose punitive damages –without limit – on companies that are reckless with child safety. And voters should give the bum’s rush to demagogues who malign people who file legitimate lawsuits while taking money from people with the blood of children on their hands.

We should all try to climb around in the other person’s skin every once in a while.

posted by Mark Avera at 5/11/2006 06:06:00 AM | 0 comments