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Friday, January 03, 2003A California company recently notified University Hospital late last year of plans to drop malpractice insurance for the hospital's Obstetrics Department. Then the state stepped in, preventing the company from dropping coverage. Listening to the sound of an unborn heart, Dr. Daniel Edelstone breathes a sigh of relief after a near flatline for the Obstetrics Department at UofL. Edelstone is chairman of th department He says that without malpractice insurance, "we literally would have had to stop providing health care." Once the state stepped in, "They were forced to provide us insurance," Edelstone is chairman of the department, and he says the company is providing coverage, but at a much higher rate. "They weren't forced to provide it at a reasonable rate -- our rates went up about 65 percent." Costs for malpractice insurance have increased from $900,000 a year to one $1.5 million annually. The skyrocketing costs of malpractice insurance a dangerous threat. "What you have is a system that is just running away with itself," Edelstone says. And what happens next year when the rates go up even further? West Virginia redux. posted by Sydney on 1/03/2003 07:27:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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