[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14095]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



           WE MUST PASS AN EFFECTIVE PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  (Mr. WATT of North Carolina asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, my colleague, the gentleman 
from Washington (Mr. McDermott) has pointed to the headline in the 
Washington Post this morning that says the AMA Votes To Unionize 
Doctors, and that comes at the same time that we are considering in the 
Committee on the Judiciary granting an exemption for doctors to ban 
together and not be subject to antitrust laws.
  The question I ask is: How do we pass those rights to patients? How 
do we get them together to assert their rights? HMOs can do it, doctors 
will be able to do it, but who will be speaking for the patient? Mr. 
Speaker, that is where the Patients' Bill of Rights comes into play.
  We have got to pass an effective Patients' Bill of Rights in this 
body so consumers and patients will have the rights that are being 
bargained for by doctors and already given to HMOs in the health care 
system.

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