Editing Bill Frist (section)

====Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA)====
Just before Congress adjourned for the 2006 elections, in what politicos call a "midnight drop", Frist inserted the [[Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act]] (UIGEA) clauses into the larger, unrelated [[SAFE Port Act|Security and Accountability for Every Port (SAFE) Act]]. The SAFE Act itself was a late [["must pass" bill]] designed to safeguard ports from terrorist infiltration.<ref>{{cite web |title=The American Conservative |url=http://www.amconmag.com/article/2009/oct/01/00027/ |website=The American Conservative}}</ref> The UIGEA became the basis for the April 15, 2011, US Department of Justice government crackdown and domain name seizure of three of the world's top online poker sites, dubbed "black Friday" in the poker community.<ref>{{cite web |title=Manhattan U.S. Attorney Charges Principals of Three Largest Internet Poker Companies with Bank Fraud, Illegal Gambling Offenses and Laundering Billions in Illegal Gambling Proceeds |url=https://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/April11/scheinbergetalindictmentpr.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110419230512/http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/April11/scheinbergetalindictmentpr.pdf |archive-date=April 19, 2011 |access-date=April 17, 2011}}</ref> The DOJ Office of Legal Counsel subsequently issued an opinion in September 2011, stating that the UIGEA applies only to betting on sporting events and contests and not to other types of online gambling.<ref>{{cite web |title=Whether Proposals by Illinois and New York to Use the Internet and Out-Of-State Transaction Processors to Sell Lottery Tickets tTo In-State Adults Violate the Wire Act |url=https://www.justice.gov/olc/2011/state-lotteries-opinion.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010050306/http://www.justice.gov/olc/2011/state-lotteries-opinion.pdf |archive-date=October 10, 2012 |access-date=October 4, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Internet Poker Is Sort of Legal!|first=Joe |last=Palazzolo|date=December 23, 2011 |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/law/2011/12/23/internet-poker-is-sort-of-legal/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=December 30, 2011 |title=Legal News - What the DOJ's reversal on the Wire Act really means |url=http://calvinayre.com/2011/12/30/legal/dojs-wire-act-reversal-means-barton-bill/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=December 23, 2011 |title=US Department of Justice Says Wire Act Applies Only to Sports Betting - Legal News |url=http://calvinayre.com/2011/12/23/legal/us-department-of-justice-wire-act-applies-only-to-sports-betting/|first=Steven |last=Stradbrooke|website=calvinayre.com}}</ref>

'''Schiavo case'''

{{Main|Terri Schiavo case}}

In the Terri Schiavo case, a brain-damaged woman whose husband wanted to remove her gastric feeding tube, Frist opposed the removal. In a 2005 speech delivered on the Senate Floor, he questioned the diagnosis of Schiavo's doctors of Schiavo being in a [[persistent vegetative state]] (PVS): "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."<ref>{{cite book |last=Frist |first=Bill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0aFiYpPzsgYC&q=%22I%20question%20it%20based%20on%20a%20review%20of%20the%20video%20footage%20which%20I%20spent%20an%20hour%20or%20so%20looking%20at%20last%20night%20in%20my%20office%22&pg=PA195 |title=Bill Frist: a senator speaks out on ethics, respect and compassion |publisher=Monument Press |year=2005 |isbn=0-9769668-3-2 |location=Washington, D.C. |pages=195}}</ref> After her death, the autopsy showed signs of long-term and irreversible damage to a brain consistent with PVS.<ref>[http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/schiavo/61305autopsyrpt.pdf Medical Examiner's Report on the Schiavo Autopsy] June 13, 2005</ref> Frist defended his actions after the autopsy.<ref>[[Anne E. Kornblut|Kornblut, Anne E.]] (2005). "Schiavo Autopsy Renews Debate on G.O.P. Actions". ''[[The New York Times]]'', June 16, 2005</ref>

'''Campaigns and elections'''

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. He spoke in favor of the recently passed [[Medicare (United States)|Medicare]] prescription drug benefit and the passage of legislation providing for [[health savings account]]s.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

In an impassioned argument for medical malpractice [[tort reform]], Frist called [[personal injury lawyer|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." Frist has been an advocate for imposing caps on the amount of money courts can award [[plaintiff]]s for [[damages|noneconomic damages]] in [[medical malpractice]] cases.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50446-2004Aug31.html|title=Text: Remarks by Sen. Frist to the Republican National Convention|date=August 31, 2004|newspaper=The Washington Post|publisher=FDCH E-Media, Inc}}</ref>

During the 2004 election season, Frist employed the unprecedented political tactic of going to the home state of the opposition party's minority leader, Democrat [[Tom Daschle]] of [[South Dakota]]. Daschle's Republican opponent, [[John Thune]], defeated Daschle. Later Frist and Daschle work together at the Bipartisan Policy Center and have spoken together frequently at healthcare conventions and events and written numerous joint op-eds on policy issues of bipartisan agreement.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81275.html|work=Politico|last=Norman|first=Brett|date=September 16, 2012|title=The Bill Frist Rx}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=December 12, 2022 |title=Former Sens. Daschle, Frist: Congress Should Act Now to Prepare for the Next Pandemic |url=https://bipartisanpolicy.org/press-release/former-sens-daschle-frist-congress-should-act-now-to-prepare-for-the-next-pandemic/ |website=Bipartisan Policy Center}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |first2=Bill |last2=Frist |first1=Tom |last1=Daschle |date=February 29, 2016 |title=Big-hearted, self-serving and right |work=The Hill |url=https://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/271229-big-hearted-self-serving-and-right/ |access-date=February 24, 2023}}</ref>

[[File:FirstCorkerBakerAlexander.jpg|thumb|right|Frist at the inauguration of his successor [[Bob Corker]] (second left). Along with Tennessee's former Senator [[Howard Baker]] (second right), and Senior Senator [[Lamar Alexander]] (far right).]]
Frist pledged to leave the Senate after two terms in 2006 and did not run for reelection. He campaigned heavily for Republican candidate Bob Corker, who won by a small margin over Congressman [[Harold Ford Jr.]] in the [[Tennessee United States Senate election, 2006|general election]].{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}