[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 111 (Thursday, July 12, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H7662]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              ELIMINATING INFECTIONS FROM MEDICAL DEVICES

  (Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TIM MURPHY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, at least half of all 
cases of hospital-acquired infections are associated with medical 
devices. These medical devices include items ranging from tongue 
depressors to catheters and heart valves.
  These preventable infections infect 2 million patients per year and 
end up costing 90,000 lives and over $50 billion annually. These are 
unacceptable costs for patients, taxpayers and Congress.
  Up to this moment this morning, we already have over 1 million cases, 
you can see on this chart, 47,000 deaths and a cost of over $26 
billion, and that's just as of today.
  Yesterday we passed the Medical Device User Fee Act which included an 
amendment in there that I placed in that allows for the government, the 
GAO, to study these issues. They note that even after rigorous cleaning 
and sterilization, virus and bacteria still exist on reused medical 
devices.
  Manufacturers, providers and facilities should take measures to 
reduce the rate of infections. I urge my colleagues to refocus our 
Nation's health care system on patient choice, patient safety and 
patient quality and join me in working on these things together where 
we can save lives and save money for our Nation.

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