[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19567]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   PATIENTS AND THEIR DOCTORS SHOULD MAKE HEALTH CARE DECISIONS, NOT 
                         WASHINGTON BUREAUCRATS

  (Mr. BISHOP of Utah asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, last week the President accused 
doctors of performing unneeded treatment just for money. I received a 
call today from Dr. Mobley. He is the ear, nose and throat residency 
director at the University of Utah who oversees the training of 
doctors, and he was disappointed at the President's remarks.
  He appropriately thought the President should apologize for two 
reasons: Number one, his baseless accusations against the profession; 
but also the second reason is because of the underlying message of the 
statement. And I don't know why the President decided to become 
involved in kids' tonsils; but for some reason, he thought it was 
within his jurisdiction.
  His statement implies a time will come when the government 
bureaucracy will deem it in their realm of power to decide what a 
doctor and a patient may or may not do. A government big enough to 
provide for our basic needs has historically found themselves 
increasingly comfortable in regulating other behaviors related to that 
health care need. In other countries they've told one how to exercise, 
how and when to eat, to sleep, what kinds of cars to buy. What we need 
is a system that allows the patient and the doctor to make decisions, 
not a Washington bureaucrat.

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