Charles W. Stenholm: “I rise in support of H.R. 5, of which I am an original cosponsor. I cosponsored this bill because I believe that it will…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 5, of which I am an original cosponsor. I cosponsored this bill because I believe that it will help ensure the availability of vital health services for patients in this country. Listening to the debate today, the average citizen would assume that it is necessary to choose sides. Either one is for the docs and other health care providers or they are for the patients. I simply reject that premise and assert another, which is this. We must have a system where good doctors can practice good medicine if we are going to have healthy patients. Does creating a good system mean that no doctor will ever fail again? No patient will ever again be injured through negligence or poor practice patterns? Of course not. But when those injuries occur through clearly bad behavior on the part of a health care team, I want the health care professionals to be responsible for their action. I sympathize with the case examples brought to the floor by my colleagues on my own side of the aisle. There are a great many tragedies which occur when health care is poorly delivered. I have no interest in removing appropriate avenues of redress for those injured people and their families, but I do not believe these cases have much, if anything, to do with the bill before us today because it retains a great deal of legal redress for plaintiffs.”