OPINION: Don't fall for cartoons; trial lawyers aren't the problem

Every now and then, a cartoon or headline makes me shake my head — not because it’s funny, but because of the damage it does. A recent Journal cartoon mocking medical malpractice attorneys as get-rich-quick schemers winning “millions for chipped toenails” is one such example. It might draw a chuckle, but it distorts the truth about what trial lawyers do, and worse, it plays into the hands of the billion-dollar corporations that desperately want the public to see us as the problem.

Here’s the reality: Trial lawyers don’t get paid unless their clients recover. That means we spend months, sometimes years, putting in long hours and fronting enormous costs, often hundreds of thousands of dollars, to take on hospitals and insurance companies. We take out loans to pay for expert witnesses, medical reviews, depositions and trial prep, all to give our clients, the victims, the chance at justice they deserve. If we lose, we don’t just lose time; we lose all of that investment. That’s the opposite of easy money.

Who are we up against? Not mom-and-pop shops. Not local doctors who go to work every day to care for patients. Our opponents are multi-billion-dollar hospital corporations and insurance giants, many of them backed by private equity firms with headquarters in Manhattan high-rises. They have endless legal teams, deep war chests and a singular mission: to minimize payouts and protect their bottom lines. Every dollar they don’t pay to a victim is another dollar to shareholders.

When my client had to bury his wife and raise his two daughters as a single father because his wife didn’t receive treatment she needed, when a child is left brain-damaged by negligence during birth, or when a young father dies because warning signs were ignored in the emergency room — these aren’t chipped toenails. These are lives forever changed. Families face mountains of medical bills, lost wages and lifelong care. Without trial lawyers, their only option would be to suffer in silence while corporations congratulate themselves on record profits.

So, why the effort to make trial lawyers the villains? Because it’s a smart business strategy. If the public can be convinced that lawyers are greedy caricatures, then restrictions on lawsuits and damages look reasonable, even righteous. Meanwhile, the billion-dollar insurance and hospital corporations laugh all the way to the bank. Every headline and cartoon that sneers at “ambulance chasers” is one less headline scrutinizing the profit motives of companies that deny legitimate claims and cut corners in patient care.

It’s a shell game, and sadly, too many have fallen for it.

But let’s be clear: The true imbalance of power is not between trial lawyers and doctors. It’s between vulnerable patients and billion-dollar corporations. Trial lawyers are simply the equalizers. We give families a fighting chance. We force accountability. We make sure the harm done to one person can’t be quietly buried by a company that would rather hide the truth than change dangerous practices.

So the next time you see a cartoon mocking trial lawyers, ask yourself who benefits from that narrative. It isn’t the victims of malpractice. It isn’t the families scraping together money for long-term care. And it certainly isn’t the public, which deserves safer hospitals and a fairer system. The real joke is on us if we let them get away with it.