Poll: State residents back malpractice reform

DeKALB - President Bush knew in advance his campaign for medical malpractice tort reform would play well in Madison County where he unveiled his plan Wednesday. So did researchers at Northern Illinois University's Center for Governmental Studies, whose recently completed Illinois Policy Survey, found that southern Illinois residents were the most likely in the state to have lost doctors due to rising malpractice rates as well as the group most strongly favoring the capping of awards in such cases. Those feelings could be tied to the reputation of southern Illinois' Madison County. It was recently ranked the worst "judicial hellhole" in the nation by the American Tort Reform Foundation for its propensity to hand out large settlements in medi