As a medical doctor and a non-smoker, I certainly echo the concern expressed by Elizabeth M. Whelan in her article, “. . .and take them off cigarettes” (Jan. 28), regarding the continued high prevalence of cigarette smoking in this country.
However, I disagree with Whelan’s suggestion that the way to attack this problem would be to remove government warning labels from cigarette packages, and by doing so open the floodgates for numerous lawsuits to be brought against tobacco companies by dying smokers and families of deceased ones. In my opinion, the main result of this approach would be an added strain on our already over-burdened judicial system.
Of course, the cost for all this litigation will ultimately be passed on to the taxpayer. Consider the effects that our lawsuit-happy legal system has had on the cost of health care: billions of dollars spent each year by hospitals and medical providers on malpractice insurance plus billions more in excess tests ordered by doctors to protect themselves from the very real threat of malpractice lawsuits.
It is also disturbing that our legal system is again being asked to make millionaires of people (or their surviving relatives) who knowingly abuse their bodies.
President Clinton’s suggestion of a steep tax on cigarettes to pay for the financial burden that smoking places on our health care system is, if not an answer, at least a start. An increase in litigation would be neither.
