[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 15097]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   CONGRESS MUST ACT TO PASS REFORM TO CURRENT MEDICAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

  (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, $230 billion. That is the cost last year of 
the medical justice system in this country. Of that figure, 20 percent 
went to compensate patients for actual pain and damages, 20 percent 
went to lawyers' fees, 20 percent went to insurance overhead, and 25 
percent was paid out in noneconomic damages for things like pain and 
suffering.
  Mr. Speaker, we can scarcely afford this continued type of 
expenditure in this country; and, indeed, this House has passed, twice 
in the past 2 years, legislation seeking to reform this system. 
Unfortunately, that legislation has languished on the other side of the 
Capitol.
  Mr. Speaker, it is more than just the monetary damages, though. It is 
the cost in terms of the human capital that we are losing today from 
doctors who are leaving practice early, hospitals that are having to 
close their doors. But even more important than that, Mr. Speaker, is 
the cost of human capital that will never be developed. I am talking 
about students in medical school, undergraduate school, and high school 
who will look at their medical career ahead of them and decide it is 
just not worth the effort.
  Mr. Speaker, we must act in this Congress.

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