Byron Dorgan: “I gave a presentation on the Senate floor one day about a young boy named Ethan, who was born with severe difficulties…”

“I gave a presentation on the Senate floor one day about a young boy named Ethan, who was born with severe difficulties from cerebral palsy, for which he required intense physical therapy. And the HMO said, ``No, we're going to cut off that therapy because he will not make significant progress.'' Now what they defined as ``insignificant progress'' was the ability to walk by age 5. It was not doctors who were making that decision. It was accountants in an HMO who were saying, ``Being able to walk by age 5 is insignificant.'' So there was a matter of dollars and cents versus a young boy's health. That is the point the Senator from Massachusetts makes about the urgency of having an agenda on the floor of the Senate that deals with real issues that affect real people. We have a ``legislative landfill'' here.”