Shame on doctors putting patients last
When air traffic controllers walked off the job in the 1980s President Reagan fired the lot of them for putting the public’s safety in harm’s way. It is unconscionable that professionals who labor daily to save lives would place others in jeopardy simply to make a political and economic point. But that is exactly what surgeons in West Virginia have done by staging a walkout (they are calling it leaves of absence) in protest of malpractice costs. A similar showdown was in the works by Pennsylvania physicians but was averted at the last hour by the dynamic gubernatorial dual of current Gov. Mark Schweiker and incoming Gov. Ed Rendell. For more than a year physicians have been complaining that they are either unable to purchase medical malpractice insurance or that the cost is prohibitive. Some, including a few local doctors, have closed or limited their practices. Their pleas have not fallen on deaf ears. Lawmakers have attempted some corrective legislation and are considering other moves to lighten the fees and allow for more insurance carriers to offer policies, hence creating more competition that often sends the marketplace into more competitive pricing.
The issue is complicated and calls for more than a couple of aspirins followed by a Maalox chaser that legislators have so far prescribed. A sincere look at the tort system is called for. Gov. Rendell proposes as one provision that anyone wishing to sue for malpractice seek certification from an independent doctor that the case has merit. Undoubtedly there would be physicians offering themselves as “experts” in writing certifications but reviews of cases prior to filing has helped cut malpractice claims by 25 percent in states requiring this step, according to Rendell. If such a provision were already necessary, perhaps cases such as one filed this past week in Westmoreland County would be screened for validity. A woman is seeking $90 million because she worried that she might contract a life-threatening infection because of faulty medical equipment.
Rendell is wise to review policies enacted by other states that aren’t facing as severe a malpractice insurance crisis to determine what works. West Virginia is obviously not one of them. Gov. Bob Wise plans Wednesday during his State of the State address to unveil legislation.
It was foolish of Wise to remain mum on his plan and allow surgeons to walk. But it is inexcusable that surgeons, regardless of whether or not they believe Charlestown is ignoring their pain, to blatantly put their wallets ahead of patient care and the Hippocratic Oath. When the dust settles, and these doctors return to their practices, patients ought to remember who they are and fire the lot of them.