On the recordMarch 22, 2012
But what we're doing in the amendment is to provide immunity to all hospitals and physicians and require the Federal Government to pay for medical errors committed by them. Look, we have 98,000 patients dying every year due to preventable medical errors. I'm not slamming the docs and the hospitals. I'm saying that we don't want to provide complete immunity. {time} 1050 This Dent amendment, Madam Chairman, does just that: it provides complete immunity. So I'm asking my colleagues to please slow down and realize that irreparable harm due to negligence in the emergency room--and we've got pages and pages of examples--would be not subject to adjudication because of this amendment. It's a very dangerous amendment. It goes way too far. It's overbroad. And I urge my colleagues to carefully examine the consequences of this provision. I reserve the balance of my time. The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Pennsylvania has 30 seconds remaining.
