Jack Kingston: “I want to discuss with the gentleman now, Mr. Speaker, this medical liability issue. And let me say up front that if I…”

“I want to discuss with the gentleman now, Mr. Speaker, this medical liability issue. And let me say up front that if I am in trouble, I want a lawyer. I want a lawyer on my side. So this really is not aimed at or taking shots at the lawyers. What this is saying is our system has a problem. In Las Vegas, 30 obstetricians have closed their practice in recent months, leaving the city with 85 obstetricians to deliver 23,000 babies a year because of their malpractice insurance. That is according to the Las Vegas Review Journal, August 29, 2002. In West Virginia, the parents of a 6-year-old boy were forced to drive 3 rac{1}{2} ext{ hours to Cincinnati, Ohio, to find a specialist who could remove the pin that the boy had accidentally lodged in his windpipe. And that is from WSAZ-TV in Charleston, West Virginia, September 19, 2002. Here is something from the South Florida Sun Sentinel, November 4, 2002. Women are facing waiting lists of 4 months before being able to get an appointment for mammograms because at least six mammography centers in South Florida have stopped offering this procedure as a result of increased medical liability insurance premiums.”