Members of a consumer rights group watched the president's speech on television in a conference room at the Collinsville Holiday Inn.
Amber Hard, the Illinois director for the New York-based Center for Justice & Democracy, said that Bush all but ignored legitimate victims of medical malpractice in an effort to show support for the area's doctors. She said that limiting jury awards for pain and suffering would make it more difficult for malpractice victims to rebuild their lives.
"The problem with caps is that they are going to affect the people who have the most egregious injuries," Hard said.
"We're talking about babies and children and young people who are injured early on and who won't be able to work and won't be able to live normal lives. This is compensation that's going to cover them if they develop complications as they age."
Kim Cruse of Pocahontas, Ill., watched the speech with Hard. On Tuesday, Cruse, 40, told reporters at a press conference sponsored by the Center for Justice & Democracy that her mother, Barbara, died in 1999 after developing complications during routine back surgery at a Madison County hospital.
"Let this happen to his mother or his wife and we'll see if he thinks that somebody else should be able to put a cap on what they think the value of a life is," Cruse said, referring to the president. "You're put in a little different situation if you're put in that place."
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