[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 40 (Wednesday, March 12, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E437-E438]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                FREEDOM FROM UNNECESSARY LITIGATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 12, 2003

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the Freedom from 
Unnecessary Litigation Act. As its title suggests, this bill provides 
an effective means of ensuring that those harmed during medical 
treatment receive fair compensation while reducing the burden of costly 
malpractice litigation on the health care system. This bill achieves 
its goal by providing a tax credit for negative outcomes insurance 
purchased before medical treatment. The insurance will provide 
compensation for any negative outcomes of the medical treatment. 
Patients can receive this insurance without having to go through 
lengthy litigation and without having to give away a large portion of 
their award to a trial lawyer.
  Relying on negative outcomes insurance instead of litigation will 
also reduce the costs imposed on physicians, other health care 
providers, and hospitals by malpractice litigation. The Freedom from 
Unnecessary Litigation Act also promotes effective solutions to the 
malpractice crisis by making malpractice awards obtained through 
binding, voluntary arbitration tax-free.
  The malpractice crisis has contributed to the closing of a maternity 
ward in Philadelphia and a trauma center in Nevada. Meanwhile, earlier 
this year, surgeons in West Virginia walked off the job to protest 
increasing liability rates. These are a few of the examples of how 
access to quality health care is jeopardized by the epidemic of large 
(and medically questionable) malpractice awards, and the resulting 
increase in insurance rates.

[[Page E438]]

  As is typical of Washington, most of the proposed solutions to the 
malpractice problem involve unconstitutional usurpations of areas best 
left to the states. These solutions also ignore the root cause of the 
litigation crisis: the shift away from treating the doctor-patient 
relationship as a contractual one to viewing it as one governed by 
regulations imposed by insurance company functionaries, politicians, 
government bureaucrats, and trial lawyers. There is no reason why 
questions of the assessment of liability and compensation cannot be 
determined by a private contractual agreement between physicians and 
patients. The Freedom from Unnecessary Litigation Act is designed to 
take a step toward resolving these problems through private contracts.
  Using insurance, private contracts, and binding arbitration to 
resolve medical disputes benefits patients, who receive full 
compensation in a timelier manner than under the current system. It 
also benefits physicians and hospitals, which are relieved of the costs 
associated with litigation. Since it will not cost as much to provide 
full compensation to an injured patient, these bills should result in a 
reduction of malpractice premiums. The Freedom from Unnecessary 
Litigation Act benefits everybody except those trial lawyers who profit 
from the current system. I hope all my colleagues will help end the 
malpractice crises while ensuring those harmed by medical injuries 
receive just compensation by cosponsoring my Freedom from Unnecessary 
Litigation Act.

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