Political Quotes

“I would indeed like to debate the issue, I would like you all to live in my State of West Virginia over the last year. Our Trauma I Medical Center in the State's Capital, Charleston, West Virginia, closed. No specialist. It was reopened, but it was closed for 2 or 3 months. In September of 2002, a young boy who had something lodged in his windpipe, his parents had to drive him 4 hours to get a specialist in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank goodness it had a good ending, but it might not have. In January, a group of Wheeling surgeons left the emergency room to illustrate the deep and devastating problem that West Virginia doctors are suffering with the high cost of medical liability. And, guess what happened? Our State legislature, which is predominantly Democrat, in probably the largest way of any State legislature, we have a Democratic Governor, they passed and signed the day before yesterday a medical liability bill that does in fact have caps on non-economic damages. Because, you know what? When your grandmother, when your mother, when your husband or wife cannot find medical care at a trauma center, cannot find an OB/GYN, when their general practitioner leaves to go to California, North Carolina, Georgia, that is a human problem. That is a health problem. So the answer to this is the legislation that we are going to pass today. I proudly voted for it last year. I think it will help not only my State of West Virginia, but it will help every State in the Union.”