Ethics Complaint Cites Frist's Work On Medical Malpractice Legislation

[kskiska]

A consumer rights foundation has asked the Senate ethics committee to investigate whether Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) improperly promoted legislation to limit medical malpractice awards while maintaining what it called "personal and financial ties" to a large hospital chain with a malpractice insurance subsidiary.

The complaint was filed late Monday by the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights of Santa Monica, Calif., which has a long history of opposing curbs on malpractice litigation. It was promptly circulated around Washington by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which also questioned what it described as a potential conflict of interest on Frist's part.

The ethics committee declined to comment on the complaint. Frist spokeswoman Amy Call described the complaint as a "political exercise." She said the Senate leader has received "numerous rulings from the ethics committee" noting that its rules did not bar him from working on health issues because of his personal and family finances.

At the center of the controversy is the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), the nation's largest for-profit hospital company, which has been run primarily by Frist's father, Thomas Frist, and brother, Thomas Frist Jr.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55869-2004Apr6.html

[MSgt213]

1. Wait are they trying to say a republican is using their elected position

for personal gain? I don't believe it.

[boobooday]

2. This guy ran for the Senate for exactly that purpose

His family is like the largest owner of hospitals in the country -- a big HMO.

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[PfcHammer]

3. not to mention those cats from the shelter n/t

[teryang]

4. It's not a health issue, it's money vs. access

...to the legal system. If the people's access to the legal system can be curtailed, then the profits of insurance company's will skyrocket.