[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17695]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        MEDICAL LIABILITY REFORM

  (Mr. PAULSEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  MR. PAULSEN. Madam Speaker, the cost of defensive medicine is a major 
factor for skyrocketing health care prices for American families. 
Studies reveal some alarming facts: defensive medicine costs the United 
States $170 billion per year; a third of orthopedists, obstetricians, 
trauma surgeons, emergency room doctors, and plastic surgeons can 
expect to be sued in a given year; liability concerns have driven 7 to 
8 percent of all OB/GYNs to stop practicing altogether; and data for 
2006 show that 71 percent of all cases are either dropped or dismissed 
and only 1 percent result in a verdict for the plaintiff; and yet it 
still costs an average of $25,000 just to defend a lawsuit even if no 
payment is awarded. The results are higher premiums, less access to 
treatments, and physician shortages in certain specialties.
  Any real health care plan must include long-overdue medical liability 
reform. Without it, patients and doctors alike will suffer, and the 
cost of health care for all Americans will continue to go up.

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