Surgeons threaten walkout over insurance costs
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) --Dozens of surgeons in northeastern
Pennsylvania have threatened to effectively go on strike in January if the
state doesn't do something about the high cost of medical malpractice
insurance.
Claiming high premiums are forcing them out of business, at least 45
doctors in Scranton said they have stopped accepting new patients and won't
perform surgeries after January 1. The total includes 10 of the small
city's 18 general surgeons, 14 of its 15 orthopedists, and all 8 of its
urologists.
"I don't want to be irresponsible. I just want someone to put their feet in
my shoes for a while," said Scranton neurosurgeon Shripathi Holla. "We need
more people to take care of these patients, and the insurance situation is
driving us out of the market."
Doctors have tried mass walkouts elsewhere in the nation.
In Las Vegas, 150 doctors at University Medical Center resigned in July to
protest high insurance premiums, prompting the hospital to shut down its
trauma center for 10 days.
The action prompted a special session of the Nevada Legislature, which
enacted a law capping damages in trauma center malpractice cases at
$50,000, except in cases of gross negligence. About half the doctors
returned to work after the bill passed.
The American Medical Association, the country's largest physicians group,
said that while such mass demonstrations are rare, physician groups have
also been forced to shut down in several other states because of high
insurance costs.
In Scranton, some are calling the threatened walkout a protest. Others
insist it is a simple business decision. Holla said his malpractice
insurance costs $450 a day -- a rate he says is strangling his practice and
preventing his hospital from recruiting doctors.
If the surgeons follow through, it could hobble the city's five hospitals
and force some patients to travel long distances for care.
The area's largest, Community Medical Center, said it would be forced to
temporarily close its trauma center and divert patients at least 70 miles
away if Holla, its only regular neurosurgeon, follows through on his threat
to boycott work from January 1 to January 7.
Leaving a void
Scranton's 200-bed Mercy Hospital has already cut back on scheduled
operations for January in anticipation of having fewer surgeons available,
said hospital vice president Jeff Lewis. He said he hoped the doctors would
keep working.
"If this were to come to fruition, obviously there would be a terrible void
here in the area," he said.
The Scranton surgeons have shied away from calling their planned shutdown a
strike.
AMA ethics guidelines enacted in 1998 discourage doctors from refusing to
work, saying "Strikes reduce access to care, eliminate or delay necessary
care, and interfere with continuity of care. Each of these consequences is
contrary to the physician's ethic."
But many of the Scranton surgeons said given their high insurance costs,
they have no choice but to close.
"Most of our doctors will either retire, or will move to another state,"
said Margo Opsasnick, chief executive of the general surgery group, Delta
Medix. "Some of them are applying for licenses in other states."
It's unclear whether doctors who leave Pennsylvania would fare better
elsewhere.
In two neighboring states, New Jersey and Ohio, doctors have also pushed
for bills to hold down insurance costs by capping jury awards in
malpractice suits.
Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Ed Rendell has appointed a special commission to
consider short-term aid packages that would keep the doctors working while
the state tries to develop a permanent solution.
"Mr. Rendell hopes that doctors won't punish patients," his spokesman, Tom
Hickey, said. "At the same time, he acknowledges that they have a
legitimate issue and he wants to find a way to help."
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press.
Find this article at:
<<http://www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/12/27/fewer.surgeons.ap/index.html>>
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