WEB EXTRA!
The U.S. Senate squashed federal medical liability insurance reform July 9, a move the Academy regretted but policy-makers had predicted.
But during debate on the measure July 8, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, spoke in favor of capping noneconomic damages in medical liability lawsuits and he shared a story about a successful delivery by Lloyd Van Winkle, M.D., past chair of AAFP's Committee on Communications.
Cornyn read this account from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "Last summer, a pregnant woman showed up at Dr. Lloyd Van Winkle's Castroville office in south Texas, less than 10 minutes from delivery. Her family doctor in Uvalde had recently stopped delivering babies, citing malpractice concerns, and the woman was trying to drive 80 miles to her San Antonio doctor and hospital. 'She made it as far as Castroville and decided she wasn't going to make it any further,' Van Winkle said."
According to a Texas Medical Association survey last year, the senator added, more than half of all Texas physicians, including those in the prime of their careers, are considering early retirement because of the state's medical liability insurance crisis.
"Personal injury trial lawyers should not be able to drive good doctors out of medicine or to reduce patients' access to health care," Cornyn told the senators.
Van Winkle's story was, in reality, a bit more complex than the newspaper article conveyed.
First, there is not just one family physician in Uvalde who has given up maternity care because of high malpractice insurance costs. "Eight family physicians used to do OB there, as I recall," says Van Winkle. "Five did not renew their OB insurance. The other three certainly couldn't take up all that slack. And they're contemplating whether they'll renew this December or not."
Second, the woman in the story, who is large and had had a tubal ligation, didn't know she was pregnant. She was traveling to San Antonio for care for appendicitis. "She kept saying, ‘I can't believe this!' and I kept saying, ‘Push!'" explains Van Winkle.
Third, mom and baby are fine and are getting care from a San Antonio physician. The little girl weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces, and arrived by breech birth. "I didn't charge for providing the care," says Van Winkle. "I thought it was a wonderful thing to have happen. What a stroke of luck, to have that happen in your office and go so well."
Fourth, the question physicians ask Van Winkle is this: Did the mother sue anyone? No, replies Van Winkle -- she was in good spirits about the situation.
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