Congressman Burgess (R-TX): Power Morcellators not recalled by FDA, “SO BE IT”!

by Hooman Noorchashm, M.D., Ph.D. and Amy J. Reed, M.D., Ph.D.

Published July 9, 2015, 10:19 a.m. ET

On July 8, 2015 the House of Representatives Rules Committee killed the Fitzpatrick Amendments to a major healthcare bill, known as "21st Century Cures", scheduled for a general assembly vote on July 9, 2015.

You can watch the killing of Fitzpatrick's amendments on this video, at 3:58:04.

The Fitzpatrick amendments had resulted from the congressman's full recognition of the "power morcellator" disaster in women's health as a bellwether failure of the FDA's medical device section to keep the American public safe. The faces of harm are clearly in our federal government's view.

Congressman Burgess (R-TX), himself a gynecological surgeon, effectively dismantled and killed the Fitzpatrick amendments in the Rules committee.

Incredibly, Burgess admitted that his colleagues in gynecology had failed at their professional duty to protect their patients from the spread of cancer. You can watch Burgess' acknowledgment that this was a failure on the part of gynecologists at this video, at 4:05:20.

But, in an astonishing diatribe, Burgess argued that congress had no role in evaluating the root cause of this deadly failure and that professionals should be left to deal with this egregious problem.

Most disturbing, however, was Burgess' arrogance in stating that if FDA has failed to remove or regulate "power morcellators" from the market "SO BE IT!".

You can watch this outrageous dereliction of congressional duty by Representative Burgess on this video, at 4:12:44.

The amendments proposed by Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA), were aimed at drawing attention and eliminating a severe public health hazard and a deadly failure at FDA. You can read about this public health hazard created by the Food and Drug Administration here.

Buried in the "21st Century Cures" bill is a series of provisions for the medical device industry, which will very definitely leave that industry even less safe and more dangerously regulated than it currently is.

Congressman Burgess' position is particularly incorrect and disturbing because he admits that the gynecological surgeons have failed and harmed many women, he admits that FDA has not done its job to protect patient – and his response is "SO BE IT!".

Congressman Burgess' response as a republican member of congress and a doctor himself represents a severe dereliction of congressional duty to the American people.

Burgess' over-confident statement "SO BE IT" from the House Rules Committee will cost more American lives, and more lost health insurance dollars – because on July 8, 2015 he killed a series of amendments that could have opened up congress to protecting American patients from a severe "home-grown" threat.

The sad shame is that Burgess' is considered a conservative member of the "Tea party", proclaiming to be a champion for the people's voice and for a more efficient and just federal government – that seems to mean that he is willing to keep a blind eye to professionals and the FDA causing the preventable sacrifice of American lives to the altar of corporate interests.

And that is fully shameful!

Our many thanks continue to go to Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (R-PA) for his courage and clarity in standing as a lone conservative voice of reason in a congress seemingly gone blind in the face of money and industry lobby power.

We, and many of his constituents and patients harmed across the United States, now ask that he vote "NO" on the "21st Century Cures", on principle and on conscience.

Hooman Noorchashm and Amy Reed, husband-and-wife physicians, have campaigned to ban electric morcellators since December 2013, soon after Reed's unsuspected uterine cancer was spread by the device during a routine hysterectomy.