David Weldon: “This is obviously a national crisis. It has regional features to it. California is not in the throes. They passed their…”

“This is obviously a national crisis. It has regional features to it. California is not in the throes. They passed their malpractice reform. We have got a real problem in Florida. Indeed, the Level 1 trauma center at Orlando Regional Medical Center is about to close down. The principal reason for that is they cannot get enough neurosurgeons to support the trauma center. One of the principal reasons they cannot get enough neurosurgeons to support it is that they cannot recruit physicians into the State of Florida and one of the biggest reasons for that is the astronomical cost of medical malpractice in the State of Florida. This is becoming an access issue. In the central Florida area of Orlando and the east central coast, Brevard County, where I live, you have upwards of 2, 3 million people in this region and we are going to lose one of the principal trauma centers. So people are going to suffer. People are going to die because of the medical malpractice crisis that we are facing in this Nation today.”