WASHINGTON, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- As medical liability costs continue to rise across the country and doctors in high-risk specialties such as trauma care and obstetrics are forced out of practice, the country's most vulnerable patients -- including women and accident victims -- were denied needed protection when medical liability reform opponents today blocked a cloture motion on the Pregnancy and Trauma Care Act (S.2207), 49-48.
"For the third time this year, a small group of opponents in the United States Senate have stood in the way of legislation supported by a majority of Americans -- legislation that contains proven reform measures that will lower medical liability costs for health care providers and thereby ensure continued access to top-notch medical care for those in need," said John T. Thomas, president of the Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Health Care (CARH) and Senior VP of the Baylor Health Care System in Dallas, Texas.
"While Senators make floor speeches hypothesizing about what might be the cause of the crisis and ignoring facts about California's proven model of reforms, children and accident victims from Orlando to Las Vegas are faced with the ever-present reality that the doctor or facility they need may not be there when they require them," said Thomas.
Speaking at a press conference on S.2207 Tuesday (4/6), Mary Rasar of Lake Elsinore, California called on the Senate to pass the bill so that others might be spared her father's fate. Her father, Jim Lawson, was in a car accident in Las Vegas in 2002 during a 10-day period when there were no physician specialists available to staff the city's only Level 1 trauma center due to skyrocketing medical liability costs. The delay in being transported to the next-nearest trauma center cost him his life, she believes.
"How many more people will have to die before the Senate acts?" she asked the crowd of Senators, doctors, patients, media and concerned citizens.
Rasar's story is told in a nationally-televised commercial produced by CARH to educate the public about the continuing and escalating health care crisis. It can be viewed at http://www.carh.net/media_room.asp?type=3.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a comprehensive medical liability reform bill, the HEALTH Act (H.R.5), last year, which like S.2207 contains measures -- including a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages -- that have a proven track record of almost 30 years in California.
For more information about CARH and the medical liability crisis, visit http://www.carh.net/.
Web site: http://www.carh.net http://www.carh.net/media_room.asp?type=3
Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Health CareCONTACT: Brett Ethridge, +1-202-661-6318, for the Coalition forAffordable and Reliable Health Care
