|
medpundit |
||
 |
 |
|
Tuesday, February 04, 2003"I love delivering babies," the intense physician, 56, said. "I really love delivering the babies of women I delivered a couple of decades ago. And I know this community needs an obstetrician. "But you can't practice without [malpractice] insurance. And I can't get coverage for deliveries any more." The national malpractice insurance crisis that President Bush spoke of in his State of the Union address last week hit home for Wheatland this winter when Woods's insurance company joined a number of national malpractice carriers in declaring bankruptcy. That left only two firms selling malpractice insurance in Wyoming, and neither one was willing to take on new obstetrical coverage. Woods did get insurance for his gynecological practice -- a branch of medicine that spawns far fewer lawsuits than delivering babies -- but the annual premium costs him $116,000, three times what he paid a year ago. Whoa. $116,000 a year for malpractice in a town of 9,000. Those are New York City rates. There's no way a doctor practicing in a town of 9,000 can make enough money to cover that sort of overhead. Woods's problem has turned into a financial problem for Platte County Memorial Hospital, a 43-bed facility that is Wheatland's biggest building. "The economics of a rural hospital are always tight," noted hospital director Mike Matthews. "If I don't have all my physicians providing services here, I'm losing revenue. And if I have to cut back -- well, this hospital is the third-biggest employer in the county." Meanwhile, women with complicated pregnancies requiring the services of an obstetrician have to travel three hours round trip to find a doctor. That's just a shame. posted by Sydney on 2/04/2003 07:39:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
|
