FACTSHEET
FTCR's letter to Dr. Richard Anderson - Chairman, The Doctors
Company
RE: Publicizing His Annual Salary
January 14, 2003
Dr. Richard Anderson
Chairman, The Doctors Company
185 Greenwood Rd.
Napa, CA 94558
Via facsimile & US Mail
Dear Dr. Anderson:
You should make your annual salary public.
As Chairman of one of the nation's largest medical malpractice
insurers and an industry spokesperson, you have traversed the nation
seeking to limit the legal recovery of innocent victims of medical
negligence, no matter how egregious the negligence or serious the
injury. While you seek to impose federally an arbitrary $250,000 cap
on the amount of compensation a jury can award for an injured
patient's pain and suffering, you have failed to disclose how much
you personally benefit from such legal limits already in place in
California. The Napa Valley-based Doctors Company refuses to
disclose your compensation in public filings at the California
Department of Insurance and your salary appears to be a
closely-guarded secret within the company as well.
Though you advocate restricting the compensation that innocent
victims can receive for a lifetime of suffering to an arbitrary
amount, regardless of the judgment of juries, you refuse to even
reveal how much money you collect every year without any pain and
suffering.
The Securities Exchange Commission reports on compensation for CEOs
at publicly traded companies. For example, Jay Fishman, CEO of
medical malpractice insurer St. Paul Co, made $9.7 million in 2001.
Such profiteering is inappropriate to an industry that seeks to take
the right of juries to compensate victims as they see fit.
You should set the record straight. As a public figure, and as the
chairman of a regulated company that is, in California, required to
justify its rates, your salary should be made public. Doctors who
pay premiums, victims who will be limited in their recovery and
lawmakers who will be asked to trust your testimony must know your
personal stake in limiting victims' legal rights.
Sincerely,
Carmen Balber
Douglas Heller
FTCR |