Posted on 07/28/2002 10:09:27 AM PDT by Dog Gone
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- Faced with a medical insurance crisis that temporarily closed Nevada's top trauma center and has some doctors limiting how many babies they'll deliver, state lawmakers plan to meet Monday to cap malpractice awards.
The rare special session comes four days after President Bush called for a nationwide ceiling on jury awards, saying it would drive down soaring health care costs and save taxpayers money. Democrats countered that the proposal would help the insurance industry, not patients.
Nevada is one of a dozen states troubled by rising premiums, tied to awards by state juries in malpractice cases, according to the American Medical Association. The others are Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.
Nevada's problems began in December, when the company that had insured 60 percent of the state's doctors began canceling its malpractice policies.
Facing losses of nearly $1 billion, Minnesota-based St. Paul Cos. said it was getting out of the malpractice insurance business worldwide. Other companies also pulled out of Nevada, citing the high cost of settling malpractice claims in a state with no cap on jury awards.
Remaining insurers quoted policy prices so high that some doctors said they'd be forced to restrict or even give up their practices altogether. Las Vegas obstetrician Dr. Gloria Martin, for one, closed shop rather than absorb a bump in premiums this month from $23,000 to $80,000 a year.
Altogether, more than 140 physicians -- mostly in high-risk specialties -- have shut down their practices because of insurance costs, according to the Nevada State Medical Association. And Nevada's only top-level trauma center, in Las Vegas, closed for 10 days this month after 58 orthopedic doctors temporarily quit due to skyrocketing insurance costs.
The malpractice crisis has been felt most keenly in the Las Vegas area, especially by pregnant women. Thirty-eight of the 93 obstetricians who were practicing in Clark County in January have closed their practices since May, and others are slashing the number of babies they will deliver to hold down their insurance premiums.
``It's a health crisis for us ... when you do not have doctors for thousands of pregnant mothers in southern Nevada,'' Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn said.
In March, Guinn invoked emergency powers to underwrite medical malpractice insurance, but the crisis persisted, leading to the special legislative session.
The governor said the result would be ``some things that no other state has,'' including a cap on pain-and-suffering jury awards. He also wants to strengthen reporting of disciplinary actions and limit doctors' payments to a percentage based on responsibility.
Guinn hasn't announced what cap he will propose, though a $350,000 limit has been mentioned.
Trial lawyers argue that juries rule in favor of doctors in two-thirds of all malpractice lawsuits. They say doctors and hospitals should reduce mistakes, not jury awards.
Katie Rowles, a 24-year-old Las Vegas hair stylist, said the crisis prompted her clinic to tell her to put off having another baby -- advice she plans to ignore.
``If I have to, I'll drive to Utah to deliver,'' she said.
Forty-five years ago, an immigrant from Russia (who might well have been denied admittance to this country had she faced today's oppressive restrictions) published a novel that described men of intellect withdrawing from the world. Rather than submit to increasingly onerous and stultifying laws and regulations, these business people, artists, and scientists refused to work under such chains. Better, they decided, to deny others the benefits of their skills, their knowledge, and their experience than to labor as little more than beasts of burden for unforgiving and demanding masters. ...
It varies widely by specialty, and it's causing distortions like this in the way health care is delivered to Americans.
Sometimes Medicare covers the cost of the anesthesia drugs (which he personally supplies) and sometimes it's a money-loser. He's doing pretty well, but all it takes is a multi-million dollar judgment to end it all.
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