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Bill Frist

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Bill Frist
Senior Senator, Tennessee
In office
January 1995–Present
Preceded byJim Sasser
Succeeded byIncumbent (2007)
Personal details
Nationalityamerican
Political partyRepublican
SpouseKaryn Frist

William Harrison Frist, M.D. (born February 22, 1952 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee, a cardiac surgeon. Since 2003, he has served as Senate Majority Leader. He is frequently mentioned as a potential candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

Childhood and medical career

Frist is a fourth-generation Tennessean. His great-great grandfather was one of the founders of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and his father was a doctor.

Frist graduated from Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville, Tennessee and then from Princeton University in 1974, where he specialized in health care policy at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. In 1972 he held a summer internship with Tennessee Congressman Joe Evins, who advised Frist that if he wanted to pursue a political career, he should first have a career outside of politics. Frist proceeded to Harvard Medical School, where he received a Doctor of Medicine with honors in 1978.

Frist joined the lab of W. John Powell Jr., M.D., at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1977, where he continued his training in cardiovascular physiology. He left the lab in 1978 to become a resident in surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. In 1983 he spent time at Southampton General Hospital, Southampton, England as senior registrar in cardiothoracic surgery. He returned to Massachusetts General in 1984 as chief resident and fellow in cardiothoracic surgery. From 1985 until 1986, Frist was senior fellow and chief resident in cardiac transplant service and cardiothoracic surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine. After completing his fellowship, he became a faculty member at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where he began a heart and lung transplantation program. He also became staff surgeon at the Nashville Veterans Administration Hospital. In 1989, he founded the Vanderbilt Transplant Center.

He is currently licensed as a physician, and is certified in general surgery and heart surgery. He has performed over 150 heart transplants and lung transplants, including pediatric heart transplants and combined heart and lung transplants.

Controversy over medical school experiments

Main article: Bill Frist medical school experiments controversy

While in medical school, Frist obtained cats from animal shelters, under pretense of adoption as pets, for school research experiments in which he killed the animals. In a 1989 autobiography, Frist described his deception in obtaining these shelter cats as "heinous and dishonest". He attributed his behavior to the pressures of school. The incident sparked controversy after a 2002 Boston Globe story repeated the account. Since 1989, Senator Frist has received over $271,000 dollars in gifts and donations from pharmaceutical companies.

Entering politics

Though he was a public policy major in college, Frist was late to take an interest in politics; he did not vote for the first time until he was 36. In 1990, he met with former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker about the possibilities of public office. Baker advised him to pursue the Senate, and in 1992 suggested that Frist begin preparations for a U.S. Senate election, 1994. Frist began to build support. He served on Tennessee's Governor's Medicaid Task Force from 1992 to 1993, the Republican National Committee's Health Care Coalition's National Steering Committee, George H.W. Bush-Dan Quayle '92, and was deputy director of the Tennessee Bush-Quayle '92 campaign. As part of Frist's preparations for political office, in December 1993 he ended his membership in Nashville, Tennessee's racially segregated Belle Meade Country Club, which he had joined in the 1980s following family tradition.

During his first campaign, Frist repeatedly accused his opponent, incumbent Senator Jim Sasser, of "sending Tennessee money to Washington, DC, to Marion Barry ... While I've been transplanting lungs and hearts to heal Tennesseans, Jim Sasser has been transplanting Tennesseans' wallets to Washington, home of Marion Barry." During that campaign, he also attacked Sasser for his attempt to become Senate Majority Leader, claiming that his opponent would be spending more time taking care of Senate business than Tennessee business. Frist won the election, defeating incumbent Sasser in the 1994 Republican sweep of both Houses of Congress by 13 points, thus becoming the first physician in the Senate since 1928. There were claims that Frist had used Barry and other symbolic issues to appeal to Tennessee's Southern conservative, white majority; the Frist camp denied it.

In U.S. Senate election, 2000, Frist easily won reelection with 66 percent of the vote. He was elected by the largest vote total ever received by a candidate for statewide election in the history of Tennessee, although Al Gore won a higher percentage of the vote (70%) in his 1990 Senate re-election.

National prominence

Frist first entered the national spotlight when two Washington police officers were shot outside the United States Capitol. Frist, the closest doctor, provided immediate medical attention. He also was the Congressional spokesman during the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Sen. Frist with Sen. Lamar Alexander and Interior Secretary Gale Norton.

As the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, he helped Republicans win back the Senate in the 2002 midterm election. His committee collected $66.4 million for 2001-2002, 50% more than the previous year. Shortly afterwards, Senator Trent Lott made comments at a Strom Thurmond birthday celebration in which he said that if Thurmond's segregationist presidential bid of 1948 had succeeded, "we wouldn't have all these problems today". In the aftermath, Lott resigned his position as Senate Majority Leader and Frist was chosen unanimously by Senate Republicans as his replacement. He became the second youngest Senate Majority Leader in US history. In his 2005 book, "Herding Cats, A Lifetime in Politics", Lott accuses William Frist of being "one of the main manipulators" in the debate that ended Senator Lott's leadership in the Republican Senate. Lott wrote that Senator Frist's actions amounted to a "personal betrayal." Frist "...didn't even have the courtesy to call and tell me personally that he was going to run." "If Frist had not announced exactly when he did, as the fire was about to burn out, I would still be majority leader of the Senate today." Lott wrote.

In the 2003 legislative session, Frist enjoyed many successes. He was able to push many initiatives through to fruition, including the Bush administration's third major tax cut and legislation that was against partial-birth abortion (currently on appeal to the Supreme Court). However, the tactics which he used to achieve those victories alienated many Democrats. In 2004, by comparison, he saw no major legislative successes, with the explanations ranging from delay tactics by Democrats to lack of unity within the Republican Party.

In a prominent and nationally broadcast speech to the Republican National Convention in August, 2004, Frist highlighted his background as a doctor and focused on several issues related to health care.[1] He spoke in favor of the recently passed Medicare prescription drug benefit and the passage of legislation providing for Health Savings Accounts. He described President Bush's policy regarding stem cell research, limiting embryonic stems cells to certain existing lines, as "ethical." In an impassioned argument for medical malpractice tort reform, Frist called personal injury trial lawyers "predators": "We must stop them from twisting American medicine into a litigation lottery where they hit the jackpot and every patient ends up paying."[2] Frist has been an advocate for imposing caps on the amount of money courts can award plaintiffs for noneconomic damages in medical malpractice cases.

During the 2004 election season, Frist employed the unprecedented political tactic of going to the home state (South Dakota) of the opposition party (Democrat)'s minority leader, Tom Daschle, a moderate Democrat, and actively campaigned against him, quite successfully since Daschle's Republican opponent, John Thune, defeated Daschle. After the 2004 elections, Frist played a role in the controversy over Arlen Specter's post-election remarks. Frist demanded a public statement from Specter in which Specter would repudiate his earlier remarks and pledge support for Bush's judiciary nominees. Frist rejected an early version of the statement as too weak, and gave his approval to the statement which Specter eventually delivered.

Frist is widely seen as a potential presidential candidate for the Republican party in 2008, much in the same tradition as Bob Dole, a previous holder of the Senate Majority Leader position. However, there has been increasing dissent within the Republican caucus over his handling of the Majority Leader position, and his near invisibility as a spokesman for the Republican caucus, which has damaged his reputation. His supporters within the caucus point to his success in moving tax legislation important to the executive branch as a sign that he is simply filling his place on the team, namely to bring important bills to a vote, and then ensure that gains made on the floor are preserved in the conference committee process.

Many of Frist's opponents have attacked him for what they see as pandering to future Republican primary voters. They claim that he has taken extreme positions on social issues such as the Terri Schiavo matter in order to please them. On the other hand, Frist changed his position on stem cell research, contradicting the wishes of the religious right.

There has also been controversy regarding the "nuclear option," under which the Republicans would change a rule in the Senate to prevent the filibuster of judicial nominations. Although Frist claimed that "[n]ever before has a minority blocked a judicial nominee that has majority support for an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor," critics pointed to the nearly two century history of the filibuster, including the successful four-day 1968 Republican filibuster of Lyndon Johnson's chief justice nominee, Abe Fortas. (see [3], [4]); some Republicans, however, dispute the claim that Fortas enjoyed majority support in the Senate. Other conservatives note that there is nothing unconstitutional about changing rules over the filibuster; for example, until 1975, cloture required a two-thirds majority, rather than the three-fifths majority in today's Senate. In 1998 Frist did participate in the Republican filibuster to stall the nomination of openly gay James C. Hormel to be ambassador to Luxembourg; Hormel eventually received a recess appointment from President Bill Clinton, bypassing a Senate vote.

More criticism of perceived weakness came in the midst of an extended confirmation fight over Bush's pick for US ambassador to the United Nations, John R. Bolton. Twice Frist failed to garner the 60 votes to break cloture, getting less votes the second time and even losing one conservative Republican (George Voinovich of Ohio). On June 21, 2005, Frist said the situation had been "exhausted" and there would be no more votes. Only an (see [5]) hour later, after speaking to the White House, Frist said: "The president made it very clear he wants an up-or-down vote." The sudden switch in strategy led to charges of flip-flopping in response to pressure from the Bush administration. Nevertheless, no up-and-down vote was held, and Bush made a recess appointment of Bolton.

Frist has pledged to leave the Senate after two terms, which would be in 2006; this would leave him ideally placed to pursue a presidential run in the 2008 presidential election.

Schiavo case

Senator Frist has recently been criticized for the Terry Schiavo case. During his tenure as the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Frist watched videotapes that were made and edited by an advocacy group that felt that Florida resident Terri Schiavo should not be disconnected from equipment that sustained her bodily functions.

From this viewing of a videotape, he contradicted the diagnosis of all the attending physicians that Terri Schiavo was brain dead, and said that Florida doctors had erred in saying Terri Schiavo is in a "persistent vegetative state."

"I question it based on a review of the video footage which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office," he said in a lengthy speech in which he quoted medical texts and standards. "She certainly seems to respond to visual stimuli." His speech on the floor of the senate: "I have looked at the video footage. Based on the footage provided to me, which was part of the facts of the case, she does respond." (see [6])

A subsequent autopsy after Ms. Schiavo's death showed long-term and irreversible brain damage that laid to rest any argument that Ms. Schiavo had retained any higher brain function. The autopsy also showed Terri Schiavo to have been blind. Subsequently the senator backpedaled, even going so far as to say "I never said 'She responded.'" (see [7])

Even before this autopsy, Frist had been criticized for his comments about Ms. Schiavo. His critics said that it was unprofessional to diagnose someone who he had never examined and had only seen on a videotape. They also pointed out that Frist is not a neurosurgeon.

A complaint to the Tennessee Bureau of Health Licensure and Regulation regarding Senator Frist's intervention into another attending physician's case was filed. The complaint brought the Frist Senate Office's July 11, 2005, response that Doctor Frist "did not violate the statutes and/or rules governing the practice of medicine in the State of Tennessee". (His statements were made in Washington DC about Ms. Schiavo's Florida hospitalization.)

Personal life

Frist has been married to his wife, Karyn, whom he met at a Boston emergency hospital, since 1982. They have three sons; Harrison, Jonathan, and Bryan. As of 2005, Harrison is a senior at Princeton University, Jonathan is a freshman at Vanderbilt University, and Bryan attends St. Albans School in Washington, D.C.. The Frist family are members of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C..

Frist has been a pilot since the age of 16. He holds commercial, instrument and multi-engine ratings. He has also run seven marathons and two half-marathons.

In June, 1989, Frist published his first book, Transplant: A Heart Surgeon's Account of the Life-And-Death Dramas of the New Medicine. With J.H. Helderman, he edited "Grand Rounds in Transplantation" in 1995. In October, 1999, Frist co-authored Tennessee Senators, 1911-2001: Portraits of Leadership in a Century of Change with J. Lee Annis, Jr. In March, 2002, Frist published his third book, When Every Moment Counts: What You Need to Know About Bioterrorism from the Senate's Only Doctor. While generally well received, the book later spurred accusations of hypocrisy regarding his remarks about Richard Clarke. When Clarke published his book Against All Enemies in 2004, Frist stated "I am troubled that someone would sell a book, trading on their service as a government insider with access to our nation's most valuable intelligence, in order to profit from the suffering that this nation endured on September 11, 2001." In response, readers "monkeywrenched" the Amazon.com user reviews of his book. In December 2003, Frist and coauthor Shirley Wilso released Good People Beget Good People: A Genealogy of the Frist Family, to lukewarm reviews. Frist has also written medical articles.

In 1998 he visited African hospitals and schools with the Christian aid group Samaritan's Purse.

Frist has a fortune in the millions of dollars, most of it the result of his ownership of stock in Hospital Corporation of America, the for-profit hospital chain founded by his brother and father. Frist's 2005 financial disclosure form lists blind trusts valued between $7 million and $35 million.

Members of the Frist family have been major donors to Princeton University, pledging a reported $25 million in 1997 for the construction of the Frist Campus Center. [8] Frist has said that, a few years after his 1974 graduation from Princeton, "I made a commitment to myself that if I was ever in a position to help pull together the resources to establish a center [on the Princeton campus] where there could be an informal exchange of ideas, and to establish an environment that is conducive to the casual exchange of information, I would do so." [9]

Conflict of interest allegations

Frist placed his investments in a blind trust when he joined the Senate to avoid accusations of conflicts of interest. Asked in a television interview in January 2003 whether he should sell his HCA stock, Frist responded, "Well, I think really for our viewers it should be understood that I put this into a blind trust. So as far as I know, I own no HCA stock." However, Frist's blind trust provided him with regular updates on the status of his assets.[10] Some have suggested that this is because compliance with Senate ethics rules requires disclosure of the blind trust portfolios, and that no Congressperson can be unaware of their holdings.[11]

Medicare investigation

Hospital Corporation of America was the subject of a decade-long Federal investigation into double-bookkeeping and suspected criminal fraud involving the bilking of Medicare, Medicaid, and Tricare (the federal program that provides health insurance to members of the military and their families). During this period no one in the Frist family had any executive position in HCA. HCA has paid a total of $1.7 billion in fines, the largest fraud settlement in U.S. history. Shortly after Frist assumed his position as Senate Majority Leader, a final fine of $631 million was assessed and the ongoing Justice Department investigation into HCA was dropped. Rick Scott, who had been hired to run the company after Frist's brother's retirement, quickly left the company. Frist's brother, a billionaire, returned to HCA to get the company back on track; in addition, HCA was allowed to continue its Medicare contracts.[12][13]

Insider trading allegations and the SEC Investigations

On September 20, 2005, the Associated Press reported that Frist sold his HCA shares, which had been in a blind trust, two weeks before the company announced that earnings would not meet expectations, which caused a substantial drop in the share price. A spokeswoman said that Frist told the trustee who managed his HCA shares to sell them on June 13, and Frist had no control over the exact date when they were sold. Frist further claimed that the order was given to avoid allegations of conflict of interest over his participation in healthcare legislation, and that he possessed no non-public information when the stock was sold. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York has issued subpoenas to investigate the sale, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating. Frist has retained the Washington, D.C. law firm of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr to defend him in connection with these investigations.

In September 2005, the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington singled out Frist as one of the thirteen most "corrupt" members of Congress, and filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee calling for an investigation of the stock sale, an alleged cover-up, and an allegedly mishandled disclosure of a campaign loan.[14] Frist denies any violation of campaign finance laws; others have claimed that, because Frist has no formal relationship with HCA, he cannot be an "insider" for purposes of insider-trading prohibitions under the securities laws, and that SEC investigations of sales in advance of important announcements are routine.[15]. However, under §10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, any person who trades in securities for personal profit, using confidential information misappropriated in breach of a fiduciary duty to the source of the information, may be held both civilly and criminally liable according to the U.S. Supreme Court. [16] Thus, if Frist traded on information illegally passed to him by his relatives, he could be convicted under the Securities Exchange Act.

Ideology and issues

Frist's primary legislative focus has been on issues of concern to the health care industry. He opposes guarantees that health care be provided to all Americans, favoring instead free markets for health care services. The senator also opposes abortion. In the Senate, he led the fight against intact dilation and extraction (also known as partial-birth abortion). He voted for the Partial-Birth Abortion Act of 2003, voted against an amendment to include a women's health exception (as he considered the procedure to be hazardous to a women's health), and is opposed to all federal funding of abortion. [17] Despite this, Frist retains a large personal stock holding in the Frist family's for-profit hospital chain (Hospital Corporation of America), which provides abortions. At least one pro-life mutual fund refuses to invest in HCA because of its abortion services. [18][19] Frist supports a total ban on human cloning, even for purposes of stem cell research. He supports programs to fight AIDS and African poverty. He travels to Africa frequently to provide medical care.

Since 2001, Frist had stood beside President Bush in his insistence that only currently existing lines be used for stem cell research. But in July 2005, Frist reversed course and endorsed a House-passed plan to expand federal funding of the research, saying "it's not just a matter of faith, it's a matter of science." Up to that point the legislation had been considered bottled up in the Senate. The decision quickly drew criticism from social conservatives such as James Dobson, but garnered praise from Democrats and former First Lady Nancy Reagan.

During an interview on December 5, 2004, Frist, who is a supporter of abstinence-only education, was asked about a government-funded abstinence education program that stated AIDS could be transmitted by sweat and tears. Despite there being no medical evidence to support such a statement, Frist responded: "I don't know. You can get the virus in tears and sweat. But in terms of infecting somebody, it would be very hard."

On education, Frist supports the No Child Left Behind Act, which passed in 2001 with bipartisan support. In August 2005 he announced his support for teaching intelligent design ideology in public school science classes.

In November, 2005, Frist told reporters that he was less concerned about torture at CIA secret prisons than he was about compromising the security of millions of Americans.[20].

Personal Wealth

Frist's net worth was between $15 million and $45 million based on his financial disclosure forms released in 2005. [21]

Electoral History

  • 2000 Race for U.S. Senate
    • Bill Frist (R) (inc.), 65%
    • Jeff Clark (D), 32%
  • 1994 Race for U.S. Senate

Media coverage

Frist's photogenic and youthful image helps him make strong presentations when he appears on television. He is often mentioned on the radio, including on The Stephanie Miller Show.

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