Asa Hutchinson: “earlier this morning as I left the Chamber after the vote to proceed to the Patients' Bill of Rights, I was approached…”

“earlier this morning as I left the Chamber after the vote to proceed to the Patients' Bill of Rights, I was approached by a reporter who said: Senator Hutchinson, what do you have to say about all of these terrible stories, these horror stories that are being presented on the floor of the Senate? My response was: They are true; they are right. We are all horrified by some of the abuses that have occurred and the need for patient protection. I went on to say: Whether it is the Nickles bill from last year on which many worked so hard, whether it is the Frist-Jeffords bill this year, or whether it is the Kennedy-McCain bill, all of them have agreed upon basic patient protections; that every one of these stories that have been graphically portrayed in the Senate will have been addressed by these pieces of legislation. Whether it is access to the closest emergency room, whether it is direct access to an OB/GYN, or any of the basic protections, all of these bills address those concerns.”