Tort Reform At The National Level

A reader writes:

I am attorney who practices medical malpractice defense in Texas, a state which has received some attention for enacting tort reform, especially with regard to health care liability claims. The inclusion of tort reform in the debate over health care coverage reform is a red herring, unless one is talking about simultaneously enacting changes in the laws in the separate states, and in many cases (e.g., Texas), first amending the state constitution to allow for such changes in the first place. Simply put, the federal government has no jurisdiction over the vast, vast majority of medical malpractice actions, which are nearly always filed in state courts, pursuant to state statutory or common law.