[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 20 (Tuesday, February 24, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1509-S1510]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     FAILURE TO PROCEED TO S. 2061

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will be closing in a very few moments, 
but I want to express my disappointment in not being able to proceed to 
the bill. We have been on the motion to proceed the last 2 days to a 
bill that reflects a pressing problem, a crisis in many States. It has 
to do with a medical liability system that is having an impact now, not 
just on physicians paying for their insurance, but on the quality of 
care, access to care throughout the United States of America.
  I do not believe the full impact of the medical malpractice 
malignancy is truly understood by the average American. Like a cancer, 
this malady is eating away at the experience of our medical system in 
critical areas such as obstetrics.
  Dr. Sean White of Kingsport is a perfect example of what is 
happening. Dr. White moved to Tennessee in 2002 due to the outrageous 
increases in medical malpractice premiums in Pennsylvania. A staggering 
7-physician group increase of $210,000 forced a 30-year-old practice to 
utterly dissolve. Alone, Dr. White's medical malpractice premiums were 
estimated to increase by $30,000 to $110,000.
  And this wasn't just any practice, but an OB-GYN group focusing 
principally on one of the most precious of

[[Page S1510]]

all practices, the delivery of babies. Medical malpractice malignancy 
ultimately claimed the two senior physicians in the practice, as they 
retired early, while Dr. White was forced to leave town.
  ``They really had to scramble,'' Dr. White said of his fellow 
colleagues who didn't have the option to retire early. ``They went to 
two local hospitals and asked them to just employ them because they 
couldn't afford to pay their bills anymore. And no, I don't know how 
hospitals afford it.'' Dr. White left the Bethlehem practice in 2002 
because the bank requested a lien on his home and the co-signature of 
his wife, Tracy, to finance his malpractice premiums for that year.
  ``I could see the hand-writing on the wall,'' Dr. White said. ``But I 
have delivered so many babies in that community. You invest so much 
time and energy into the practice and develop such a rapport with 
people. I delivered half of my daughters' friends, the children of my 
own friends. It was very difficult to just pack up and leave.''
  Collectively, Bethlehem's 72,000 residents lost the better part of a 
century of combined experience when Dr. White left for Tennessee and 
his two senior partners took early retirement. Let me underscore here, 
a better part of a century of experience claimed by exorbitant medical 
malpractice premium hikes.
  In addition to taking a loss in order to buyout his partnership in 
Bethlehem, Tennessee has hardly been a refuge for Dr. White and his 
family. Yes, malpractice malignancy is also eating away in my own home 
state, where Dr. White's personal medical malpractice premiums jumped 
to $65,000 this year, up $20,000 from just last year in Tennessee.
  Statistics indicate that as many as nine in 10 obstetric physicians 
have been sued in Tennessee if they're in the practice of delivering 
babies for more than 10 years, Dr. White said. This despite the fact 
that maternal death rates have plummeted to all time lows in this 
country.
  ``The trial lawyers will tell you they are trying to weed out the bad 
apples,'' Dr. White said. ``Obviously, with 90 percent being sued, 
they're not all bad apples.''
  And that is the crux of the issue here.
  Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield?
  Mr. FRIST. I would be delighted to yield.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, through you to the distinguished majority 
leader, I got a call from a dear friend in Nevada today, a surgeon. He 
is very active in public affairs, a very close friend of our Republican 
Governor. He told me that in Nevada, where the Governor called a 
special session that we have caps, the insurance rates have not been 
affected at all; they are still going up. He originally had a policy 
with St. Paul. They pulled out. Another company came in and doctors are 
always concerned with what they call the ``tail,'' to make sure if 
something happens after their policy expires that they are covered for 
acts that took place in the past. He went with a new company. They 
pulled out after a year and a half. Now he is going to have to pay more 
than $100,000 for 1 year to have coverage for today and acts that took 
place in the past.
  I say to my friend, the distinguished Senator from Tennessee, a 
physician, this medical malpractice is something we have to address. I 
don't know the best form to do it. But when we do it, we are not only 
going to have to deal with some of the policies outlined by both 
parties today, but we will have to take a look at what the insurance 
industry is doing to my friend and other physicians. This is not just a 
problem generated solely by the trial bar; the insurance industry has 
some culpability.
  I hope the distinguished majority leader, when again we get to this 
issue, will help us come up with a framework and we can discuss this 
issue. Part of the discussion has to be directed toward the insurance 
industry.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, let me respond through the Chair that the 
problem has gotten so big that patients are being hurt and potential 
patients are being hurt. It is a crisis. It is a complex problem.
  As a physician, and as one who sees patients, I recognize they are 
being hurt by this system, and we have to start somewhere. Part of it 
is being able to proceed to debate. If the timing is not right, we will 
come back and do it at another time. We will come back to it. This 
problem is not going to go away. I look forward to addressing it again.
  This particular bill is not a comprehensive bill. We are not talking 
about all of the doctors out there. Rather, we took one specialty. I am 
a little perplexed how to come back to it because I want to keep the 
issue out there. Patients are being hurt, and we are going to come back 
to it. We will work together to figure out the best way to try to have 
an appropriate forum for what is a complex issue. Hopefully, we will 
bring it back in some shape or form in the next several weeks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida is recognized.

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