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Friday, January 03, 2003Illinois Malpractice: They aren't striking yet in Illinois, but the malpractice situation is beginning to strain the system: Because Illinois law holds hospitals liable for actions taken by physicians affiliated with them, hospitals and especially academic medical centers have borne the brunt of an escalation in malpractice awards from juries in the past few years, the center's Max Brown said. Last year Rush was self-insured for the first $4 million in liabilities, but this year, it must cover the first $15 million itself, with insurance companies only stepping in to cover awards that exceed $15 million. "The London insurers have told us that no one is going to insure anything under $15 million and that will probably go to $20 million next year," Brown said. "Academic medical centers must set aside reserve funds to cover this liability, and that money has to come from other programs - from education and research." And at least one malpractice insurance company says it can't afford to cover anymore doctors: The agency that provides physicians with malpractice insurance in Illinois, ISMIE Mutual Insurance Co., has put a freeze on accepting new doctors for coverage. Rising malpractice awards could threaten ISMIE's reserves if it accepts more physicians, said the organization, which is an affiliate of the Illinois State Medical Society. posted by Sydney on 1/03/2003 07:23:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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