[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 27, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H114-H115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to report back on the last 3 
weeks I spent in my district, traveling the district, visiting with the 
13 hospital and medical centers that are in my district, to talk to 
them about the Prescription Drug and Medicare Modernization Act that we 
passed here in November and the President signed into law.
  I would like to report they have been very pleased with what we did 
here in Congress. The doctors are pleased with the reimbursement 
increase they are going to receive, and our hospitals are pleased with 
what we have done. I have a rural district, and the rural package that 
we put forth for these hospitals is very important to their financial 
well-being.
  But as we talked about what we did in the bill, the discussion 
quickly turned to what we have not done here in Congress. In the House, 
we have attempted to do it three times, passed legislation to reform 
medical malpractice, but it has not passed in the other body, and as I 
talked to these CEOs, doctors and nurses, we talked about the stories 
in various areas of the district.
  In Indiana County, for instance, the home of Jimmy Stewart, a very 
well-respected and beloved orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Paul Burton, left 
Pennsylvania for California 6 months ago due to the medical malpractice 
crisis in the State of Pennsylvania.
  In Blair County, Pennsylvania, the largest hospital in my district, 
the Altoona Hospital, in 1999 they paid approximately $1 million in 
malpractice insurance; last year, that number jumped up to almost $3 
million, and not a penny of it was used to help patients.

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  Pennsylvania physicians paid over $350 million in malpractice 
insurance premiums, which ranks them second in the Nation, nearly 10 
percent of the Nation's total, despite having less than 5 percent of 
the Nation's physicians.
  There are countless stories like these, not only in my district, but 
across this country. In 2002, an American Medical Association analysis 
found that 12 States were in crisis. That number has now reached 19, 
and they include Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, West 
Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, 
Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Wyoming, Nevada, 
Oregon and Washington. Together, these States represent almost half the 
population of the entire country.
  America's medical liability system is broken. Jury awards are a big 
part of that problem. In 2002, 52 percent of all awards were for $1 
million or more. Today that average is over $3.5 million. In the city 
of Philadelphia, juries awarded more than the entire State of 
California, which is outrageous. If left unrestrained, these jury 
awards will continue to spiral out of control.
  One of the most serious consequences of the medical malpractice 
crisis is patients' access to care. Physicians are being forced to 
limit services, retire early or move to other States where medical 
malpractice reform has taken place.
  During my tour, I met an ear, nose and throat physician who is trying 
to recruit another doctor for his practice. He told me that when he 
goes to these conferences and speaks to the residents or other 
physicians, as soon as they hear he is from Pennsylvania, they say, 
``No way.'' In fact, last year not a single orthopedic resident that 
was trained in Pennsylvania stayed in Pennsylvania to practice medicine 
due to the medical malpractice situation in our State.
  Not just doctors and hospitals pay for this medical malpractice 
insurance, but all patients pay the escalating costs of this crisis. 
Health and Human Services estimates that medical liability costs add 
$60 billion to $108 billion to the total cost of health care each year, 
$47 billion annually to what the Federal Government pays for Medicare, 
Medicaid, VA and health care for Federal employees.
  Costs are further increased by additional unnecessary tests and 
treatments that are performed by physicians practicing defensive 
medicine, trying to avoid being sued.
  The solution to all of this is reform. The House passed, as I said, 
three times, medical liability reform, proposing a cap of $250,000 on 
noneconomic damages. The HEALTH Act, H.R. 5, of which I am a cosponsor, 
which we passed in the spring, would still allow for unlimited economic 
damages, while also establishing a reasonable limit on the pain and 
suffering awards.
  I salute the President for bringing this to the forefront in his 
State of the Union message and as he traveled the country the past 
couple of days talking about the need for medical malpractice reform in 
this country. I would also urge the other body to move this important 
legislation, so that we can give the relief needed, the much-needed 
relief, to our health care system.

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