The death of Mike Wallace recently brought to mind a highly inaccurate report he gave on 60 Minutes several years ago regarding medical malpractice. It was a biased, one-sided view that failed to take into consideration the devastating effect of medical negligence on patients and their families. Moreover, he falsely asserted in his report that the average verdict in a medical malpractice case in the United States was $4 million. This was categorically false.
I wrote Mike Wallace a letter that was highly critical of him and the report that he had given. You can imagine my amazement when the phone rang one afternoon after 5:00. The caller identified himself as Mike Wallace. He explained that he wanted to discuss the letter and his television report. We probably spent 45 minutes on the phone talking about the issue. He thanked me for taking time to write to him and for correcting him.
As they say, “Now that’s class.”