John Conyers - Another Embarassing Day on the House Floor

[Starfury]

Another Embarassing Day on the House Floor
In case you missed it, special interest medical malpractice bill approved by House

If the CAFTA vote, held open again to pressure wavering Republicans to change their vote was not enough, today the Republicans passed an outrageously bad medical malpractice bill. I managed time for the Democrats on the bill, so I can tell you first hand this one is a real special interest stinker.

The bill supersedes the law in all 50 states to cap non-economic damages, cap and limit punitive damages, cap attorney’s fees for poor victims, shorten the statute of limitations, eliminate joint and several liability, and eliminate collateral source. It not only applies to doctors, but also drug companies and HMO’s.

The bill totally ignores the real problem – price gouging by the insurance industry. This despite the fact that a recent study showed that over the last five years, medical malpractice claims were flat, while premiums charged to doctors increased by more than 100%.

The GOP Bill would cap damages for pain and suffering – that means if you lose your ability to bear children, if you are forced to bear excruciating pain, if you are permanently disfigured or crippled you lose out. Their proposed new statute of limitations ignores the fact that many injuries caused by malpractice or faulty drugs take years or even decades to manifest themselves. Their periodic payment provisions would allow insurance companies to indefinitely delay future financial obligations, and with no obligation to pay interest. The bill is also a gift to the drug companies. Under the legislation, producers of the Dalkon Shield, the Cooper-7 IUD, and other dangerous products, including the drug VIOXX would be able to avoid billions of dollars in damages.

(...)

We're out of session for August, so the Republic should be safe for a month, barring any recess appointments of course.

http://www.conyersblog.us/archives/00000188.htm

[Al-CIAda]

1. Love you JC, thank you. nt

[HockeyMom]

2. Frist is calling for Congress to reconvene early,

late August, to confirm Roberts.

Rush, Rush, Rush! Don't Question, Don't THINK. Just UP OR DOWN VOTES.

[opihimoimoi]

3. Why is this great nation fucking its people? Why are we not in the streets

Madness, the Pubs are Mad with POWER.

[Dhalgren]

5. That is what the people are here for.

The people are the cattle that these fascists have to herd. We are peasants and the sooner we are put in our place the sooner our betters, our superiors, our masters can get on with living life in luxury. Come on, they've earned it...

[frankly_fedup2]

6. We are not out in the streets because we are the working-class people and

if most of you are like my husband and myself, we couldn't afford for him to miss work, travel to DC (even though we live in VA), pay for a hotel, pay to board our pets, and even buy the gas to get there and back.

THAT is why we are not able to be present.

However, if we have some wealthy Democrats who are willing to provide the above costs, who could help those of us that live almost week-to-week with traveling expenses, etc., then some vacation days could be used for a specific rally, demonstration, or eviction of the current
p(r)esident.

OR

Any other ideas????

Some guy on CSPAN was hollering about September 24th surrounding the White House. I posted it on a different post as a heading as I had not heard anything. Anyone know about this????

Seriously, any ideas?

[opihimoimoi]

7. I OWE $350 K to my bank and am not in a position to fly to DC

but what I meant was: Why are peeps accepting this w/o a fight...

What to do? Vote Blue and get anyone who listens to vote likewise....

Get involved and support only the candidates you are comfortable with/ I have met and supported some Dems and later found out...I shouldn't have....Now, I am real choosy...the candidate gatta be good....

[Coexist]

10. September 24th - IMPEACH BUSH RALLY

http://www.newdemocracyrising.com/

If you live in the south, you can take the "Peace Train" there.

I'm going!

[ltfranklin]

9. Mad? Mad, you say?

I don't think so...they've just decided that maintaining their hold on the moneyed classes and the special interests is more advantageous to them than poll numbers. Look how they got where they are today...getting money and support by saying "look what we can do for you!". And now that they're in, they're doing whatever is necessary to pay off their backers. And what are they saying now? "If the other side takes over, everything we've done will be repealed and investigated...you must do WHATEVER you can to keep us in power!".

[johncoby2]

4. Been there. Done that in Texas. It didnt work.

We capped medical malpractice in 2003 to only $250,000. Rates for our docturs actually INCREASED!

You would think the dumb ass doctors who supported this would have known better.

[Just Me]

8. Corporate America.

People are only valued as gadgets or consumers. :grr:

[knitter4democracy]

11. NOOOO!!!

Dammit! That bill is disgusting, and we need to start calling and writing everyone in the Senate not to pass it. It's bad for everyone, even doctors.

I'm going to contact the MSMS too and make sure that they know that my husband and I are 100% against it. Drug companies and insurance companies need to be held responsible for their actions that hurt and kill patients, and bad doctors need to have their licenses stripped (often only happens after a lawsuit) and to pay for hurting and killing patients.

Yeah, we have tort reform in Michigan. I was sexually assaulted by a radiology tech, and I have absolutely no way to sue or press charges. There are loopholes for medical personnel in the assault laws, the doctor didn't actually do it himself and so cannot be sued, she's not licensed and so cannot lose her license, and I'm still dealing with what happened. Tort reform hurts people. Period.

Malpractice goes up when the investments backing it up go down. The rates have almost nothing to do with payouts. Those companies need to be regulated, not the patients.