Medical Justice System

MEDICAL JUSTICE SYSTEM -- (House of Representatives - July 14, 2004)

(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, there is no higher priority for us than the reform of the medical justice system. It costs the country $230 billion a year, and right now we have never been closer to getting this ball across the goal line. We have passed the bill in this House, and we have a President in office who has said he will sign this bill. Our only problem is 400 feet away from us, on the other side of the Capitol.

Mr. Speaker, we have also never been further away. If we lose this election at the Presidential level, it will be nuclear winter as far as any type of meaningful medical liability reform in this country for easily the next 4 or 8 years time.

And it is important, Mr. Speaker, because $230 billion is what it cost this country in the medical justice system in the year 2003. One-fifth of that went to compensate patients for their actual injuries, and one-fifth of it went to the trial bar.

The impact of the medical liability crisis is clear: Patients, doctors, and hospitals are put in jeopardy while the plaintiff bar continues to enrich itself.