AS LAWYER: Greedy Edwards Did More Harm Than Good

John Edwards likes to present himself as a "tribune of the people,"
a working-class hero who has spent his life "championing the cause of the little guy."

The reality is VERY different.

In his career as a trial lawyer, John Edwards specialized in cerebral palsy malpractice cases. He never tried the case of an infant who died during a delivery, but only the cases of children who were born with horribly damaged brains that made them especially moving spectacles in the courtroom.

Scientists now accept that cerebral palsy is probably never caused by birth trauma or obstetrical misadventure. Rather, the problems that these unfortunate children have during labor and delivery result from pre-existing brain damage that arises in the womb from unknown causes.

John Edwards used the popular myth that cerebral palsy was caused by the malpractice or negligence of the delivering obstetrician. Exploiting junk science John Edwards charmed juries into awarding verdicts that earned him between 50 and 100 million dollars, while forcing many good and decent obstetricians out of North Carolina and even out of practice.

The rise in cesarean deliveries, to about 26 percent today from 6 percent in 1970, has failed to decrease the rate of cerebral palsy, scientists say. Studies indicate that in most cases, the disorder is caused by fetal brain injury long before labor begins.

And as a direct result of Edwards greed, the caesarean section rate in North Carolina soared. According to the American Medical Association, North Carolina's current health care situation as a "crisis" and blames it on medical-malpractice lawsuits such as the ones that made Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards a millionaire many times over.

So John Edwards, for no other real reason than his pursuit of personal wealth, defamed good doctors, changed the practice of medicine for the worse, and ended up costing all medical consumers more money.

This is not the record of a " tribune of the people," but rather the socially destructive record of a greedy demagogue who selfishly and cynically exploited manipulated the passions of the crowd in order to get rich quick.

Edwards has no shame.

His career as a trial lawyer is not a record to run on; it is one that should forever disqualify him from any elected office.