[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 134 (Thursday, December 7, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H8893]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HOSPITAL INFECTION CONTROL

  (Mr. MURPHY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MURPHY. Mr. Speaker, while we are all talking and debating about 
the number of deaths in overseas wars, America has a dirty little 
secret in terms of the numbers of deaths that occur in our hospitals. 
About 90,000 people a year die from infections that they receive at 
hospitals or health care, at a cost of about $50 billion to our health 
care system.
  The November issue of the ``American Journal of Medical Quality'' 
said it costs about $26,000 for each patient to treat those diseases. 
And it lasts an average of 20.6 days for a patient that has an 
infection, compared to 4.5 days without.
  If we are really serious about controlling health care cost, it is 
not a matter of shifting the burden to having the government take it 
over, nor is it a matter of offering tax breaks just to carry health 
insurance.
  This Congress, in this upcoming Congress, it is our duty, it is our 
responsibility to finally start doing some things about reforming our 
health care system so we can make it a system that people can afford, 
and not one that is so overwhelming in cost that it ends up hurting 
citizens and, in fact, leading to their deaths.

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