How "Honest John" Edwards got his hands on $152 million dollars:

"Edwards became one of America's wealthiest trial lawyers by winning record jury verdicts and settlements in cases alleging that the botched treatment of women in labor and their deliveries caused infants to develop cerebral palsy, a brain disorder that causes motor function impairment and lifelong disability."

"Dr. Murray Goldstein, a neurologist and the medical director of the United Cerebral Palsy Research and Educational Foundation, said it is conceivable for a doctor's incompetence to cause cerebral palsy in an infant. 'There are some cases where the brain damage did occur at the time of delivery. But it's really unusual. It's really quite unusual,' Goldstein said."

"Edwards' trial summaries 'routinely went beyond a recitation of his case to a heart-wrenching plea to jurors to listen to the unspoken voices of injured children,' according to a comprehensive analysis of Edwards' legal career by The Boston Globe in 2003."

"But John Hood (said)...Edwards tailored the evidence in his court cases for maximum impact. 'In pursuing his client's cases he did what many other trial lawyers do. He bent the available evidence to fit what he wanted to say."

"John Edwards' spin is always -- I am helping the little guy. But he screened his cases to the point that he only helped people that were going to make him richer".

"Dr. Lorne Hall, one of the physicians with whom Edwards reached a confidential settlement in a malpractice case involving cerebral palsy, agreed, telling The Charlotte Observer in 2003 that '[Edwards] knows how to pick cases, and he knows the ones he can win'".

"Olson said lawsuits blaming obstetricians for cerebral palsy and other infant brain damage 'may constitute the single biggest branch of medical malpractice litigation.' Cerebral palsy is diagnosed in about 8,000 infants annually in the U.S. But the recent scientific studies may make those lawsuits 'scientifically unfounded,' Olson explained. He contends that the medical malpractice suits that enabled Edwards and other trial lawyers to become rich and famous are crippling medical specialties like obstetrics, emergency room medicine and neurosurgery."

"According to the Center for Public Integrity, Edwards was able to win 'more than $152 million' based on his involvement in 63 lawsuits alone."