[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 84 (Thursday, June 17, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6912-S6913]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       MEDICAL LITIGATION REFORM

  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I know we are going to go straight to the 
bill, but first I want to make a few comments on another very important 
issue, and now during leader time is the most appropriate time for me 
to comment. It is an issue that is very close to my heart and an issue 
that has tremendous impact on people in every State.
  I will speak to one State, that is Massachusetts, on the issue of 
medical liability.
  It was just this week that the American Medical Association added 
another State--Massachusetts--to its growing list of States that can be 
classified as being in medical crisis because of out-of-control medical 
litigation system.
  For several months, as we brought a series of bills to the floor to 
try to bring this issue to debate and to focus the attention of this 
body on it, we have been using the number of 19 States. Now it is 20 
States in this great country of ours that are in medical crisis because 
of this single issue.
  According to the AMA, access to quality health care is increasingly 
endangered. What this means is decreased access to doctors. If you need 
a doctor, if you are in an automobile accident or if you are a mom or 
future mom and you need an obstetrician, access to care is increasingly 
endangered due to a broken medical litigation system. It is a problem 
in all States and in at least 20 it is a crisis. It is spreading across 
the country and that is why I take this opportunity to at least mention 
it and shine a light on it once again. It is a problem, it is a growing 
problem, and we have a responsibility to address it.
  Three weeks ago, I had a wonderful opportunity to present what is 
called the Shattuck lecture before the Massachusetts Medical Society. I 
had done my training in Massachusetts and I have tremendous respect for 
that organization. They report that the litigation crisis has become so 
severe in Massachusetts that numerous high-risk specialists, such as 
obstetricians, neurosurgeons or trauma surgeons, have reduced their 
scope of practice. This applies to 29 percent of general surgeons,--a 
general surgeon is the one who might come to the emergency room to sew 
up your child if they have a laceration--36 percent of obstetricians, 
41 percent of orthopedic surgeons, and greater than 50 percent of all 
neurosurgeons. If you are in an accident and you are going to a 
hospital, you want a neurosurgeon there to evaluate and appropriately 
treat.
  Those are the percentages of those who have said they are reducing 
their scope of practice. In other words, if you are a neurosurgeon, you 
might do elective cases but you might not put your name on the list to 
show up in the middle of the night to treat somebody. Why? Because your 
insurance would go from $100,000 to $300,000, just so you could have 
the opportunity to come in late at night to treat somebody. That is 
about as simple as I can say it. The problem is quality of care is 
being affected.
  The facts in Massachusetts reflect a growing trend. I gestured going 
up. It should be going down, because it is almost like a downward 
spiral that is occurring over the last several weeks and months and 
years. We have heard it again and again on the floor with anecdotes 
reinforcing what the medical societies are telling us, what hospitals 
are telling us, and what physicians are telling us, and that is that 
doctors are leaving and narrowing the scope of their practice. They are 
leaving the opportunity to deliver babies, maybe just to do the medical 
aspects of gynecologic care, or no longer taking calls in trauma 
centers, or they are moving to less litigious States.
  I was in Pennsylvania a few months ago. I believe 1,400 doctors in 
the last 2 years have left the Philadelphia area and they cite the high 
medical liability rates they are paying as the No. 1 reason they are 
forced to leave. Many doctors are retiring from practice altogether.
  Neurosurgeons and obstetricians are being hurt the most. If you talk 
to people in the emergency room or if you have friends, nurses, or 
technicians there, just ask them because emergency rooms are having an 
increasingly difficult time getting the high-risk specialists, and 
those are the people you want if an injury occurs. If driving home 
tonight you are in an accident, you want somebody there or someone who 
can get there very quickly. That is what is at risk.

  I keep mentioning the doctors. It is not just the doctors; it is the 
patients who are ultimately hurt. The doctors probably will be OK. They 
will move and incomes can sort of adjust. It is ultimately the patients 
who are being hurt when health care is being threatened.
  The good news is we know how to address the crisis. It is not just a 
problem that is getting worse that cannot be fixed. We actually know 
how to address the crisis. Commonsense comprehensive medical litigation 
reform, which has taken place in some States, has been proven to be 
overwhelmingly successful. It strengthens our system by addressing the 
abuses in the system. We want a strong tort system. We want to make 
sure medical malpractice is aggressively addressed. What we don't want 
are frivolous, unnecessary lawsuits that drive up the cost of health 
insurance for the physician, but ultimately the cost of health care 
throughout the system, and destroy the quality of the great health care 
that we do have in this country.
  Being a physician, obviously this is close to my heart because I see 
it and I happen to be around physicians a lot and I happen to be around 
patients a lot. I am not going to give up on this issue. We are going 
to keep bringing it back again and again until we make headway on this 
increasing problem.
  I don't know how many more States it will take. Massachusetts was 
added this week. I don't know how many more States we are going to have 
to add to this medical crisis before we act.

[[Page S6913]]

How many women are going to have to put up with their obstetricians 
leaving halfway through the pregnancy, either moving or dropping 
obstetrics, and having to find another obstetrician, or in rural areas 
not being able to find an obstetrician at all?
  So I do call on my colleagues to stand with America's patients, the 
American people, and resist the powerful special interests--we know 
they are out there today--that want no change whatsoever.
  I am determined to press forward. We will try once again at some 
point in the future to address this on the floor of the Senate. This is 
not a partisan issue. It goes way beyond that. People say we have these 
partisan votes, but it is not a partisan issue. This should not be and 
cannot be a partisan issue. So let's make Massachusetts the last State 
added to this list. Let's reduce that list. The only way we can do that 
is by acting on the floor of the Senate. Let's act now to stop the 
crisis from spreading and let's work together to put America's patients 
first.
  I yield the floor.

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