ABC'S NEW 'LAWYER-AS-PROPHET' SERIES SHOWS THAT 'ART IMITATES LIFE'

Personal Injury Bar, Entertainment Industry Ignore Science, Endanger Public Health

Washington, DC, January 30, 2008 -- Echoing concerns expressed by the American Academy of Pediatrics in a recent letter to ABC television executives, American Tort Reform Association president Sherman “Tiger” Joyce today said the premier of a new drama series tomorrow night “has the potential to scare millions of parents away from having their children properly vaccinated against dangerous diseases.”

Citing a report released earlier this month which documents the proliferation of medically misleading Web sites run by tort lawyers to recruit new clients for lawsuits against drugmakers and health care providers, Joyce suggested ABC’s new series, Eli Stone, shows that, “sometimes, art imitates life.”

The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest’s report “offers case studies of real-life personal injury lawyers endangering public health by disseminating unfounded information that convinces some people to avoid drugs or other medical treatments that could improve their health or even save their lives,” Joyce continued. “Now, Hollywood’s latest make-believe lawyer is getting in on the act, too.”

According to ABC’s Web site, its Eli Stone series will revolve around an ambitious San Francisco corporate lawyer who’s busy “screwing over the little guy” when he experiences hallucinations and illusions, and begins to change his ways. The ABC Web site says the lawyer’s “Chinese acupuncturist,” who specializes in “holistic medicine,” believes the lawyer “may be a prophet.”

“Leaving Hollywood’s hallucinations aside,” Joyce quipped, “the premier episode of Eli Stone reportedly features a lawsuit that alleges a link between a child’s autism and a preservative in certain childhood vaccines. Never mind that a growing body of medical research and most public health organizations insist no such link exists. So long as it makes for good drama and good ratings, who cares if parents might be misled into believing that getting their kids vaccinated is a bad idea?”

The pediatricians’ letter to ABC cited the deaths of several children in Great Britain during the worst outbreak of measles there in two decades after a series of television reports began erroneously linking the measles vaccine to autism in 1998.

“Of course, there are many more recent examples of the movie and television industry’s general embrace of the tort bar’s agenda,” Joyce observed. “Fortunately, most of them don’t go so far as to jeopardize public health, but they’re all misleading to one degree or another. For example:

“The storyline on NBC’s Law & Order two weeks ago began promisingly enough when homicide detectives’ suspicions were raised by a guy suing his dry cleaners for $20 million over a lost pair of pants. But almost immediately, the focus shifted to big, bad corporate executives at a giant retail discounter who not only knowingly distributed tainted toothpaste from China but also helped an adulterous colleague, the real murderer, cover up his crime. And Today Show host Matt Lauer yesterday never bothered to remind viewers and his guest, business-bashing lawyer-turned-author John Grisham, that lawyers consistently contribute more money to political campaigns than any other special interest group – by far.”

While appearing on Today Jan. 29 to promote his latest novel, the storyline of which includes a chemical company “buying” a state supreme court justice with huge campaign contributions, Grisham’s personal politics were plainly on display and Lauer said nothing to offer balance for his NBC audience.

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The American Tort Reform Association (ATRA) is the only national organization dedicated exclusively to tort and liability reform through public education and the enactment of legislation. ATRA's membership includes non profits, small and large companies, as well as state and national trade, business, and professional associations.