Big changes in gun laws could be coming, perhaps as the result of widespread settlements patterned after those in the tobacco lawsuits. Health maintenance organizations, or HMOs, comprise what probably is the least popular segment of American business. Customer complaints focus, for the most part, on HMO decisions regarding medical care. The patient underwent the surgery, paid for it herself, and then went after the health plan. Unhappy customers can't win more than the cost of whatever service the HMO may have wrongly denied.
Limited damages make it easier for HMOs to deny claims, because they face little risk.
The plaintiff in the Kentucky case, however, was one of the 20 million people who work for local, state and federal governments. Federal law does not cover these people. In addition to lawsuits, both houses of Congress last year considered patients' bills of rights. While the measure died, it undoubtedly will be back in 1999. Funeral homes infrequently encounter lawsuits.