Updated and Redesigned Auto Insurance Brochures are Available
With the changes in auto insurance enacted in the state budget getting ready to go into effect WAJ is ready with redesigned auto brochures that members can use to help educate clients and local community citizens.
Understanding Auto Insurance lays out the basics of automobile insurance and what is required in Wisconsin as a result of changes in our laws.
What To Do If You Are In A Traffic Accident details the proper steps to take after a traffic accident, including gathering necessary information and seeking medical help.
Space has been left on each of the brochures for members to place contact information for law firms including a firm logo. Email Jane Garrott at jgarrott@wisjustice.org with contact information and she will have the information added to the brochures and sent to members in a file ready for printing. Members can then take the brochures to a local printer for printing the number of copies wanted for each office.

Family Justice Bill Gets Moving
The Family Justice Bill, Senate Bill 203 and Assembly Bill 291, is a long-standing priority for WAJ. The bill allows adult children of single parents or the parents of single adult children the right to seek recourse against negligent doctors. Under current law, parents of a single adult child, or the adult children of unmarried or widowed parents cannot seek recourse for a wrongful death caused by medical malpractice through the civil justice system. Wisconsin is one of just a handful of states with such a law and it is considered to be the most restrictive in the nation.
This bill has had public hearings in both the Senate and the Assembly Committees. WAJ leadership was on hand to testify in support of the bill along with members of a number of families directly affected by this unfair loophole in the law. The bills were voted out of their respective committees and await floor action. WAJ remains optimistic that this bill can advance through both houses of the legislature this fall.
The families have created a Facebook page devoted to this cause and it can be found here.
Federal Healthcare Debate is Riddled with Misinformation
There has been a lot of bad information floating around the healthcare debate when it comes to medical malpractice and the effects of litigation on the healthcare system. Here are a few points to keep in mind:
- Medical malpractice should not be a bargaining chip. Healthcare reform is about making sure that every American has access to quality, low-cost healthcare, not about limiting the legal rights of innocent patients harmed by medical negligence.
- The cost of the malpractice system is minute – 1/3 of one percent in Wisconsin.
- Taking away patient rights does not improve the quality of our healthcare system or produce cost savings. Forty-eight states have already enacted medical malpractice reform measures. Yet these legal restrictions have done nothing to improve our healthcare system, reduce costs, or help people harmed by medical negligence.
- Medical malpractice is about real people with real injuries. The Institute of Medicine estimates that 98,000 people die each year in the U.S. from preventable medical errors (the 6th leading cause of death in America).
- Defensive medicine is a myth. Both the Government Accountability Office and Congressional Budget Office question the prevalence of defensive medicine, and have detailed how tampering with the legal system will save practically no money. Some so-called defensive medicine may be motivated more by profit and less by liability concerns.
This is an important debate in our country and WAJ encourages you to get involved and help spread the truth about these issues. For more information on this issue, go to AAJ’s website.