[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 26750]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1730
                           TORT REFORM NEEDED

  (Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Madam Speaker, according to a Harvard School of 
Public Health study, 40 percent of medical malpractice suits in the 
U.S. are ``without merit.'' These frivolous lawsuits enrich trial 
lawyers while increasing the cost of health care for everyone.
  Despite the fact that tort reform would help reduce health care 
costs, the administration refuses to propose this commonsense solution. 
Why is that?
  According to former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard 
Dean, ``Tort reform is not in the (health care) bill because the people 
who wrote it don't want to take on the trial lawyers.''
  In the handful of States that have enacted tort reform, health care 
costs have fallen, and the availability of medical care has expanded.
  Tort reform and reducing the number of frivolous lawsuits against 
hospitals and doctors would help all Americans.

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