This press release reveals what could be the next big racket — something worthy of Eliot Spitzer’s legal extortion and abuse of office:

States May Warn Doctors to Follow Smoker Treatment Guidelines or be Sued for Medical Malpractice State health commissioners may soon begin warning about medical malpractice law suits which could be brought by smokers against physicians who fail to follow federal and other guidelines in treating them…Public interest law professor John Banzhaf…has written to the health commissioners of the fifty states suggesting that they warn their state’s doctors about such law suits based upon a recent article in a leading medical journal and an even more recent study about saving smoker lives. The letter notes a recent study which shows that physicians are killing more than 40,000 American smokers each year by failing to follow federal guidelines which mandate that the doctor warn the smoking patient about the many dangers of smoking and provide effective medical treatment for the majority who wish to quit… “Since physician malpractice kills over 40,000 smokers annually – more than motor vehicle or product liability accidents – it should not be surprising if antismoking lawyers, as well as those in private practice working on contingency fees, find physicians who deliberately flout federal guidelines to be a major target of litigation.”

“Kills over 40,000?” I thought smoking killed people, not the failure of doctors to urge smokers repeatedly to quit. As if doctors aren’t facing enough challenges already, here’s someone willing to increase all of our medical bills even further.

What next? Sue doctors who are not zealous enough in urging the obese to exercise?