Charles W. Stenholm: “status quo is not acceptable. This debate today is about changing the status quo. Everyone agrees that patients must be…”

“status quo is not acceptable. This debate today is about changing the status quo. Everyone agrees that patients must be reasonably protected against malpractice and against undue harm for medical devices, drugs and other medical products. Unfortunately, our current system is not working, and to all of those who have spoken so eloquently against all of the faults of this amendment, none of those comments have been addressed to changing the status quo. As one Member who has wanted to have hearings last year, the year before, the year before, of reasonably getting into debating this question, we were denied. We were never able to bring this discussion to the floor as we are doing today. I wished we had not brought that point up, because that is a sore point to this man. Patients and physicians all are losing under our current system. That is what some of us want to change tonight, the status quo. Numerous reforms must be enacted if we are going to control health care costs. My colleague from California, a classmate from the 96th Congress, said it very eloquently and very truthfully and very factually. If we want to reform our health care system, we must start with malpractice reform. We must begin to honestly deal with the problems of health system reform by changing first the malpractice system. That alone will not solve it. It is ironic that in one of our largest States, what we are now saying will not work has been working. This is puzzling to me.”