Tom Harkin Quotes

Doctors have an ethical duty to follow the practices and standards of care.

If people understood that doctors weren't divine, perhaps the odor of malpractice might diminish.

The last time I was in there to set up for a surgery, I was sitting in the waiting room ... watching television. And a special came on the news about a guy who got AIDS from re-used medical equipment in the VA. It was the same procedure I was fixing to get. I'm gone. Deuces. I walked out, man.

I think that the general public understands that its own doctors are human, fallible, and flawed.

I don't trust doctors. It's not to say there ain't some good ones, but on a general level, no, I wouldn't trust 'em at all.

The present system of protecting NHS patients was a bit of a shambles.

The punishment should fit the crime and if a doctor or drug company does harm knowingly or negligently to a patient they should be compensated to make them whole.

Doctors are the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.

The emergency care Americans receive can fall short of what they expect and deserve.

Committing unnecessary surgeries is very, very rare. And it's very wrong.

Doctors are just the same as lawyers; the only difference is that lawyers merely rob you, whereas doctors rob you and kill you too.

Operating-room errors hold a special terror for patients, if only because they seem like the most avoidable kind of complications. The occasional horror stories of patients who have the wrong leg removed or the wrong knee replaced generate the most headlines, as do tales of patients whose identities are mixed up entirely.

The treatment of patients with contaminated blood has been described as one of the most tragic episodes in the history of the NHS.

Clearly, products for women are not as well scrutinized as products for men. It appears they never tested the implants in breast tissue and that they received decades of complaints from women. It's the kind of stuff that makes you want to scream!

Even top caliber hospitals cannot escape medical mistakes that sometimes result in irreparable damage to patients.

I believe in health care reform. I believe that HMS’s should be sued.

The blunders of a doctor are felt not by himself but by others.

Malpractice tort reform can be something as commonsensical as the establishment of medical courts - similar to bankruptcy or admiralty courts - with special judges to make determinations in cases brought by parties claiming injury.

Preemption is not about the Essure women - it affects all consumers. If someone had a medical device installed, there's no recourse for victims, and the company is protected. If there's a problem, the company gets a pass because they have preemption. It dawned on me the consumer didn't know. The women didn't know that this existed.

Performing unconsented surgeries is considered battery because the patient can't voice their opinion - they're unconscious.

With 'Cardiac Arrest,' I wanted to show that there were times when doctors really didn't care.

There is no shortage of embarrassing facts about healthcare, and people die every day in the U.S. due to preventable errors - would you fly planes if you knew several of them would drop out of the sky every day?

The first neurologist I saw just thought I was partying too much, and he stuck by that claim even after my family insisted that he was wrong.

Patients who have suffered appalling medical negligence, abused children ignored by social services, mistreated residents of care homes - they have all been given a voice by the Human Rights Act.

If I'm at the front line and refuse to treat a patient, it's considered a crime. As a physician, this is my oath. I'm going to treat everyone regardless.