Opinion: President on patient's rights

Patients' rights legislation was one of the issues on which candidate George W. Bush promised to bring bipartisan consensus as president. Instead, the White House has become the biggest obstacle to a patients' rights bill that has won wide bipartisan support in Congress.

Republican U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood of Georgia, a dentist by profession, finally gave up on seeking a compromise with the Bush administration and gave his support this week to bipartisan legislation similar to the bill Norwood crafted two years ago. Norwood says the measure, which would give patients broader rights to sue their HMOs, is "the only bill that guarantees a patient will find justice" if harmed or killed as a result of improperly denied medical care.

Spokesmen for the president say he still supports expanded patients' rights, but Norwood and other critics of the White House position say it would unfairly limit patients' practical alternatives. First, the Bush plan would allow lawsuits only in federal courts, which are less accessible than state courts and tend to produce smaller awards. Second, it would prohibit punitive damages and cap awards for pain and suffering at $500,000. The legislation favored by Norwood has a more realistic $5-million cap.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., co-sponsor of the Senate legislation, welcomed Norwood's support but said he still hoped to reach a compromise the White House could live with. "The last thing I want to have is a bill that the president would veto on this issue," McCain said.

The prospect of a veto is dependent on whether President Bush was sincere when he pledged to support bipartisan patients' rights legislation last fall. There is plenty of room for an honorable compromise that expands patients' rights to adequate medical care while protecting against out-of-control jury awards, but the HMO industry and other business groups already have begun a lobbying and advertising blitz that distorts the differences between the two approaches. For now, the White House is parroting the industry line. We'll soon see whether the president is looking for a way to support patients' rights or looking for an excuse not to.

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