To the Editor: I am writing this letter regarding recent efforts being made to change existing laws regarding compensation for injured people. The news and the media have given great attention to medical doctors going on strike because of high insurance rates. I neither heard nor saw reports of stories regarding the rights of people who have been seriously injured or killed because of the negligence of others. A rally was held in Harrisburg for these people, but nothing was reported. On the afternoon of May 13, 2003, I received an urgent fax advising me that on May 14, 2003, at 9:30 a.m. the House State Government Committee was expected to vote on House Bill 1345, which would allow the legislature to limit the recovery of non-economic damages for injuries resulting in death or injuries to persons or property. Obviously, legislation like this would limit the amount of money that anybody can receive. There have been many letters written about how unfair this is to injured parties. My point is that major changes are going on taking away the public’s rights with virtually no hearings, no notice to the general public to express its concerns, voice its complaints or illustrate the unfairness of this type of legislation. In a democracy, important questions like these should be fully debated and discussed with the public being advised before our legislators make decisions. In totalitarian regimes, decisions like these are made by a few which obviously affect everybody without the consent of the public. Since the time I was a young boy, my teachers and family extolled the virtues of a democracy and oppression of totalitarian regimes. It pains me to say this, but it seems like the way things are being done we are slowly moving in the wrong direction and that there is no end in sight to this type of political maneuvering. Neil J. Marcus Attorney at Law Monongahela

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