Phil Gingrey: “Charlie Norwood was a very successful dentist in my hometown of Augusta, Georgia. I didn't know Charlie at that time…”

“Charlie Norwood was a very successful dentist in my hometown of Augusta, Georgia. I didn't know Charlie at that time because I had long since moved away. But as a practicing physician in Marietta, Georgia, as an OB/GYN, several years ago I went to the annual meeting of the Georgia OB/GYN Society to hear Dr. Charlie Norwood talk about the Patients' Bill of Rights. Physicians across Georgia and across this country were concerned with managed care and HMOs and liability and that sort of thing. And, Mr. Speaker, when I heard Dr. Norwood speak to my colleagues, physicians about this issue, and them, in turn, including myself, give him a standing ovation, I want to tell you, Mr. Speaker, and I never did tell Charlie this, but that was an inspiration to me to want to some day have the opportunity, and thank God that I did, to follow in that walk that he walked. What a great Member of this body and what a fierce competitor and a fair competitor, Mr. Speaker.”