[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 22203]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      LIMITS ON MEDICAL LIABILITY

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, this weekend on Saturday, Texas, my home 
State, passed a constitutional amendment to limit and cap noneconomic 
damages in medical liability lawsuits. Texas now, as a result of 
passing this bold constitutional amendment, will enjoy lower liability 
premiums. In fact, my old insurer of record, Texas Medical Liability 
Trust, announced they would reduce premiums by 10 to 12 percent 
beginning this week.
  Texas will control costs in medical care by this bold legislation and 
keep themselves competitive in the world market. One might ask, Mr. 
Speaker, do we then still need H.R. 5, the bill that was passed by this 
House that now languishes in the other body? I would submit that very 
strongly we do.
  Mr. Speaker, this summer I was in Nome, Alaska, and talked to the 
medical staff at the hospital there, a medical staff that cannot hire 
an anesthesiologist because they cannot afford the liability premium. 
This means that doctors who practice obstetrics have to send their 
patients to Anchorage for cesarean sections, a 90-minute plane ride, 
and I am given to understand the weather in Nome, Alaska, is sometimes 
bad.
  At Columbia University in New York, they cannot attract good medical 
students into their residency program. In fact, I was told by their 
residency director they are taking applicants that they would not have 
even interviewed 5 years ago.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for the Senate to pick up and pass limits on 
medical liability.

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