Political Quotes

“I'm pleased to join my colleague, Pete Sessions from Texas, on the floor this morning to support a very important amendment that we've introduced that would address the crisis in access to emergency care by extending liability coverage to on-call and emergency room physicians. The underlying bill we're debating here today is about patient access to care. Now I recognize that ideology may divide the House on the underlying bill. But common sense should unite the House on this particular amendment. Our former colleague, Bart Gordon of Tennessee, had introduced this legislation with me last year. In this session, we have bipartisan support for this concept. Mr. Matheson, Mr. Langevin, and Mr. Ruppersberger all have cosponsored this legislation that I am offering as an amendment. They cosponsored the original bill. There's a growing shortage of physicians and specialists willing to work in emergency rooms. We've seen it all over the country. A 2006 Institute of Medicine report, ``The Future of Emergency Care,'' noted that the availability of on-call specialists is an acute problem in emergency departments and trauma centers. Emergency and trauma care is delivered in an inherently challenging environment. Every day, physicians providing emergency care make life-and-death decisions with little information or time about the patients they're treating. I've spoken with surgeons who've told me they dread a Code Blue out of fear of a lawsuit.…”