{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://turner.house.gov/2023/5/turner-scott-garbarino-unveil-bipartisan-bill-to-protect-lifesaving-anesthesia-care-for-veterans", "Turner, Scott, Garbarino Unveil Bipartisan Bill to Protect Lifesaving Anesthesia Care for Veterans", "2023-05-16", "2023", "2023-05", "Republican", "House", "OH", "Michael R. Turner", "T000463", "turner.house.gov", "turner", "https://turner.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, Representatives Mike Turner (OH-10), David Scott (GA-13), and Andrew Garbarino (NY-02) reintroduced the Protect Lifesaving Anesthesia Care for Veterans Act, bipartisan legislation to ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs physicians continue to provide our nation\u2019s veterans with the highest standards of care. Specifically, this bill would prevent the VA from removing expert physician anesthesiologists from the department\u2019s current model of anesthesia care.\n\nThe reintroduction of the Protect Lifesaving Anesthesia Care for Veterans Act follows a recent proposal from the VA to eliminate physician anesthesiologists from the team of doctors tasked with administering anesthesia during surgery. Currently, the VA\u2019s official policy directs a physician anesthesiologist to lead a team of certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNA) to jointly monitor patients and provide safe anesthesia care to veterans.\n\nThis universally adopted model of care is used when treating civilians at the nation\u2019s top medical facilities, including the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins, and Emory University Hospitals, and is also the law in 46 states.\n\n\u201cIt is of the utmost importance that we provide our nation\u2019s veterans with the highest standards of care,\u201d said Congressman Mike Turner. \u201cOur legislation, the Protect Lifesaving Anesthesia Care for Veterans Act, would prevent the VA from removing physician anesthesiologists from their current healthcare protocols. Retaining medical professionals who can safely administer anesthetic services is vital to maintaining the highest quality of health care for our veterans.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur veterans have earned the best quality of care available and should never be subjected to a lower standard of anesthesia care than the general public,\u201d said Congressman David Scott. \u201cExperts across the country are clear \u2013 any effort to remove the most qualified and experienced doctors from providing anesthesia can and will unnecessarily risk the lives of our veterans, especially during lifesaving surgical care. I am pleased to once again introduce the Protect Lifesaving Anesthesia Care for Veterans Act to ensure our nation\u2019s heroes and their families continue to receive the full industry-standard of quality care.\u201d\n\n\u201cOver the course of the past two years, the VA has played fast and loose with requirements for physician involvement in the administering of anesthesia at VA facilities, creating uncertainty and undue risk for the health and safety of our nation\u2019s heroes. Any policy to provide substandard care to our veterans is simply unacceptable,\u201d said Congressman Andrew Garbarino. \u201cI\u2019m proud to cosponsor this bill to ensure experienced physicians are always the primary providers of anesthesia care for our veterans.\u201d\n\nThe bill has been endorsed by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), the American Medical Association (AMA), the Military-Veterans Advocacy, Inc. (MVA), and the American Medical Student Association (AMSA)", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T23:55:44Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://turner.house.gov/2023/5/turner-scott-garbarino-unveil-bipartisan-bill-to-protect-lifesaving-anesthesia-care-for-veterans"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9493050165474415, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}