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Male doctors are four times more likely than female doctors to be disciplined for misconduct, and sexual misconduct is the most common reason for disciplinary action, a University of Melbourne, Australia study has found. Lead author, Ms Katie Elkin from the School of Population Health at the University of Melbourne said obstetrician-gynaecologists and psychiatrists had the highest rate of disciplinary action, followed by general practitioners. "This study provides for the first time, an accurate picture of the cases in which tribunals in Australia and New Zealand have found doctors guilty of misconduct," she said. "Previously, public perceptions in this area...

ANNAPOLIS -- The Ehrlich administration is ready to release state funds that will be used to reduce malpractice-insurance premiums for many physicians and surgeons, nearly five months after the General Assembly enacted legislation to reduce premiums for doctors in high-risk specialties. Budget Secretary James "Chip" DiPaula Jr. said yesterday he and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, were prepared to sign off on a request for funding from State Insurance Commissioner Alfred W. Redmer Jr.

The new math isn't working for Dr. Louis Mameli. Mameli belongs to a Thomaston-based obstetrician-gynecologist practice that's straining to cover eight central Georgia counties. Four years ago, it was a five-doctor practice, with each paying $25,000 for medical malpractice insurance, he says. Dr. Nancy Rampell, a neurologist at DeKalb Medical Center, visits the Capitol to lobby for medical malpractice reform. Now two of the ob-gyns work in other states, and the remaining three doctors pay $95,000 each in malpractice premiums, Mameli says. "My income is down 50 percent,'' he says. Because of liability concerns, Mameli says, the practice avoids taking...

After 27 years of practicing medicine in Robeson County, Carolyn McCormick has been victimized by an epidemic no pill or potion can cure. Rising malpractice insurance rates forced McCormick, 57, into early retirement Wednesday. And when she closed her Elm Street office, thousands of patients - she's not sure exactly how many - lost not only a trusted physician, but a friend as well. "So many of my patients have come in crying, in total disbelief that this is happening," said McCormick, whose office employed two people besides herself. "They tell me that they'll never find another doctor who listens...

Prenatal care for pregnant women is drying up in rural areas, partly because of steep malpractice insurance rates, rural hospital administrators told U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt at a meeting Monday. When rural doctors decide to drop obstetrics insurance coverage and stop delivering babies -- as they have in Odessa, Republic and Davenport -- they're also prohibited by their insurance companies from offering prenatal care. That means more pregnant women who've never had a prenatal checkup are showing up at Spokane hospitals to deliver babies. "That is Third-World medicine," said Tom Corley, president of Holy Family Hospital. "That's what you'd expect...

Stanley Biber, one of the few doctors in the nation who performs sex-reassignment surgeries, is having trouble buying malpractice insurance. "I guess they think I'm too old," said Biber, 80. Medical coverage companies consider any practicing surgeon older than 65 to fall into a high-risk category, said Karen Reese, an independent agent with Houston-based Professional Medical Insurance Services, a brokerage company that matches clients and insurance companies. Reese said she worked with nine companies to try to help Biber, whose base of operations is Mount San Rafael Hospital. "All of the markets I checked with who would have insured him...

<p>Doctors in the Washington area are facing a crisis, much like their counterparts throughout the nation. Malpractice insurance rates and government restrictions on Medicare payments are making it tough to go about the day-to-day business of treating patients. Some doctors are giving up high-risk practices completely, leaving their patients with fewer options for treatment. Would-be doctors are entering medical school only to change their career goals as they see the hard realities ahead. "You have a situation where the viability of a physician's practice is in great jeopardy," said Dr. Donald Palmisano, president of the American Medical Association (AMA). The AMA says the financial and liability difficulties of doctors in 19 states are bad enough that doctors are giving up high-risk procedures. Another 26 states are reaching the same point, including Maryland, Virginia and the District. "The overall costs of practicing medicine are increasing while payments are decreasing," Dr. Palmisano said. Some doctors — both locally and nationally — are doing what would have been unthinkable several decades ago: They are leaving the profession, either by retiring early or taking different jobs. Sam Roberts will decide in December whether he will continue his obstetrics practice in Elkins, W.Va. That's when his medical malpractice insurance company will tell him his premium rate for 2004. If it rises above the $55,000 a year he currently pays, he will pull out of obstetrics completely, keeping only a family medical practice. "I'm basically paying as much as I make in obstetrical practice," Dr. Roberts said. "I'm doing it because I love it." If he leaves, he will end a two-generation obstetrical practice that has included deliveries of more than 9,000 West Virginia babies.</p>

As premiums for medical malpractice insurance continue to rise, more and more physicians are making the decision to "go bare." They're canceling their insurance but are taking other steps necessary to keep their licenses under state law. In the states hardest hit by the malpractice crisis, hospitals and health plans are allowing them to continue practicing, even without insurance. "We have never required the doctors on our medical staff to truly cover malpractice insurance," says Dr. Mike Pinell, vice president and chief medical informatics officer at Orlando Regional Healthcare, a nonprofit hospital network in central Florida. "But we did require...