Political Quotes

“West Virginia's health care system and the health care system of many States are facing many challenges. But medical liability insurance has caused a mass exodus of doctors from my State of West Virginia. I live in Charleston, West Virginia, our capital city. We have one of the largest medical facilities in our State, the Charleston Area Medical Center, which was downgraded from a level one trauma center to a level three trauma center because we could not provide the 24 hour, 7-day-a-week emergency care. Mr. Speaker, I challenge anybody to tell me about living in a capital city of any State in this Nation and you have to be air lifted out of your capital city, out of the largest medical facilities in your State if you have multiple injuries. That is a sad story, but I can tell my colleagues what is going to be a sadder story if we do not fix this problem. Last week, a young boy 6 years old had a pen lodged in his windpipe. His parents rushed him to the emergency room. What happened, the emergency physician had to call all around to find somebody to treat him. Did they find anybody? No. He drives 3 hours to Cincinnati, Ohio, to find a specialist that can help this young man. What if he could not endure a 3-hour car ride? I challenge my colleagues, a tragedy is in the making.”