 February 2003 • Volume 9 • Number 2 |
BY JANE STOEVER
Surgeons in the Wheeling, W.Va., area quit working New Year's Day -- except for emergencies -- and the nation discovered the medical liability crisis.
About 100 miles south of Wheeling, FPs met with colleagues from other specialties each week last month to consider joining ranks with the surgeons.
"Several physicians were ready to walk out. Several physicians said they never would," said David Avery, M.D., of Vienna, W.Va., a past president of both the West Virginia AFP and the West Virginia State Medical Association.
"We came to consensus that we'd give the legislature a little time, perhaps a few weeks," said Avery. "We've heard promises before and haven't seen any action. We just might all have to close our doors and handle only emergency care."
Nearly every major insurance company has left the state, and the high cost of malpractice premiums is driving doctors away, too. "If there's no reform, we'll move to Ohio," said Avery. He and the other physicians he practices with work close to Ohio. "Our patients would follow us. There would be no other physicians available," he said.
A few other family physicians in the west central part of the state have already moved, and some physicians have retired early. The base rate for liability coverage for many family physicians is $28,000 per year, and several are paying more than $30,000, said Avery.
Strategy
The state's physicians participated in the annual White Coat Day at the statehouse in Charleston Jan. 13. They held a rally, ate lunch with the legislators and sought tort reform in meetings in legislators' offices.
They reiterated the West Virginia CARE Coalition's platform for reform, including these points:
The West Virginia AFP is one of the key leaders of the CARE Coalition, said Avery. The AAFP supports the reforms it is seeking, and other states have had success implementing similar changes.
New day dawning?
On Jan. 8, West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, in his State of the State address, endorsed some of the CARE Coalition's reforms, leaving out the notion of making sure a patient would receive more of an award than an attorney would.
"It's not surprising our governor didn't call for curbing attorneys' pay -- he's a trial lawyer," said Avery. "But for him to call for reforms such as a $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages would have been unthinkable six months ago."
Court reform, not just tort reform
West Virginia may get tort reform this year, said Avery. "But the state Supreme Court will tear it down in two or three years." All five judges on the court are trial lawyers. "Only one or two are reasonable. The others are very anti-physician," he said. Repeating a theme from the AAFP State Legislative Conference last November, he said, "We need court reform, not just tort reform."
Coverage problems in one-third of states
According to the AAFP Division of Government Relations, liability coverage problems have hit family physicians in about one-third of the states. For example, in Pennsylvania, PAFP President Paul Williams, D.O., of Harrisburg just switched insurance companies because his former insurer got out of the business of medical liability coverage.
"I wanted to go with a reputable, established company, and my premium went up from $5,100 to about $11,000," said Williams. "I have a clear claims history. What did I do wrong? I'm in a solo practice, and now any equipment I considered purchasing, any added CME I wanted to take, any bonuses for staff -- all those take a back burner to liability coverage."
Facts, figures, how to share ideasFacts on federal legislation. Reforms such as those promoted by the West Virginia CARE Coalition (see story above) were passed by the U.S. House of Representatives Sept. 26 by a vote of 217-202. However, the Senate did not act on the companion bill. The measure needs to be reintroduced in 2003 and go through the legislative process. Figures. According to an AAFP survey in June 2002:
How to share ideas. Join AAFP's medical liability e-mail discussion list. You'll be able to share comments on liability issues and get updates on state and federal reform efforts. Go to http://www.aafp.org/myacademy/. Login using your AAFP ID number. Select "My Subscriptions" on the left, then choose "E-mail Discussion Lists." Scroll down to "Medical Liability Issues" and hit "Subscribe." Once registered, you can post messages by sending e-mails to medliability@mail.aafp.org. |
To reach writer Jane Stoever, e-mail jstoever@aafp.org.
FP Report is published by the
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Copyright © 2003 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.