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Doctors accused of 'scare tactics'
2004-05-25
By Jim Killackey
The Oklahoman
State doctors are playing "a dangerous game" and using "scare tactics" by threatening to leave or alter their practices unless significant changes in medical malpractice insurance rates are made, the president of the Oklahoma Trial Lawyers Association said Monday.
"Where are they going to go to find lower liability rates? Are they going to uproot their families, sell their houses and move to Texas, Kansas or Missouri?" questioned lawyer Tony Laizure of Tulsa.
"I feel sorry for physicians, but walking out on their patients isn't an appropriate response, and it isn't the correct solution to their problems.
"I wouldn't walk out on my clients," Laizure said.
As lawmakers this week attempt to reach an agreement on lawsuit reforms, the president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association said Monday that he expects 20 percent to 30 percent of state doctors will retire, relocate or restrict their practices because of skyrocketing malpractice premiums and other business-related drawbacks.
"We're in a financial crunch, and the trial lawyers have a lot of clout," said Dr. Mukesh Parekh, an obstetrics-gynecology specialist at Deaconess Hospital in Oklahoma City who heads the 5,000-member association.
Parekh, for example, said he hopes enough bill collections come in this week for his practice to meet its May payroll.
His current malpractice premium of $54,000 will raise to $87,000 a year in 2005, said Parekh, adding that his current doctor's salary is $160,000 a year.
The biggest losers in the malpractice controversy are patients and their physicians, the doctor said.
"Physicians are going to leave Oklahoma or alter their practices," Parekh said, noting that many of his colleagues have stopped delivering babies or are considering doing so because of high malpractice premiums.
Patients, in fact, can expect to travel farther and wait longer for appointments under current malpractice dilemmas, he said. Many physicians also will quit performing high- risk procedures or close their practices altogether, he said.
The Legislature is considering a $300,000 cap on noneconomic damages in malpractice cases. "If nothing is done, physician access will be a serious issue," Parekh said.
The state medical association, in fact, has scheduled an unprecedented, three-day "Physician Survival Summit" June 7-9 in Oklahoma City. It's designed to make doctors "better business people," Parekh said.
On top of medical malpractice issues, he said, are reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid patients that aren't keeping up with physicians' expenses and overhead.
"We don't want the lack of affordable insurance to discourage physicians from practicing. We want to help them keep their doors open despite lower coverage limits," Parekh added.
Laizure contended Monday that the biggest offender in the malpractice situation is Physicians Liability Insurance Co., or Plico, which insures about 80 percent of Oklahoma's physicians.
That poorly managed company, he said, needs competition. "Doctors don't need to rush to the Legislature for a fix all of the time," Laizure said.
A reform passed by lawmakers in 2003 prompted the use of "expert witnesses" to determine a lawsuit's credibility. In a year, doing so already has decreased medical malpractice lawsuit filings by 55 percent in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Laizure said.
