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Dear Senator Frist:
ATLA L@w News Digest - July 10, 2003
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Frist:
We write to express our concern over the conflict of interest presented by your support
for legislation that would impose a cap on medical malpractice awards, and your personal
financial interest in companies that will profit from limits on medical liability - both
HCA, the largest for profit hospital company and one of the largest purveyors of medical
negligence in America, and its wholly owned subsidiary Health Care Indemnity
(HCI), the
nation's fifth largest medial malpractice insurance company, according to the company's
annual report.
Your blind trust does not excuse the conflict in this matter, and we believe that you
should immediately recuse yourself from the medical malpractice debate and especially the
votes on liability caps and other limits on the rights of patients injured by medical
malpractice.
Your family's fortune is thoroughly entangled with HCA. Senate financial disclosures
reveal that you and your immediate family own more than $25 million in HCA stock.
HCA has revealed in its annual reports that, for 2001 and 2002, it received more than
4,400 claims of medical malpractice for which it has thus far paid out $613 million,
making it one of the largest sources of medical negligence in the nation. HCA and its
shareholders would benefit financially from the medical malpractice legislation being
considered in the U.S. Senate this week.
Because the legislation you support, S. 11, would do nothing to reduce the medical
malpractice premiums of doctors, but would limit the liability of medical malpractice
insurers, HCI especially would profit from enactment of the legislation under
consideration.
As it is not a secret, in spite of your blind trust, that you and your family are major
shareholders of HCA and therefore of its captive insurer, HCI, it is clear that you and
your family would financially benefit from enactment of S. 11. Your participation in the
debate and in votes on this legislation present an unfortunate, but undeniable, conflict
of interest.
We urge you to refrain from debating and voting on S. 11 this week or on any similar
legislation in the future.
You have an obligation, not only to Tennesseans, but also to the nation as Majority Leader,
to uphold and protect the integrity of the United States Senate.
Because this legislation is pending in the United States Senate at this time, we look
forward to your prompt reply.
Sincerely,
John Rutherford
Executive Director
Tennessee Citizen Action
Carol Westlake
Executive Director
Tennessee Disability Coalition
Tony Garr
Executive Director
Tennessee Healthcare Campaign
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