Malpractice costs have docs seeking shelter elsewhere

Long Island Business News reports that owing to the high cost of medical malpractice insurance, some ob/gyns are reducing the scope of their business, while others are fleeing the New York area altogether. According to the article hospitals are worried that the price of malpractice insurance will lead to a health-care access crisis for pregnant women. A case in point:

“Martin Matalon, an ob/gyn practicing in Bay Shore, decided to cut back on his practice after the 2007 rate increase. He no longer performs major surgeries and doesn’t see patients past a certain stage in their pregnancies in an effort to curb malpractice insurance costs. He said he’s not alone. Matalon conducted his own survey of private ob/gyns . . . and he said he found four physicians had moved off Long Island, one had retired, and nine ob/gyns either had discontinued or had cut back on practicing obstetrics. Fifteen physicians had taken a position in a clinic to supplement their private-practice income. The reason? To help pay for malpractice insurance.”

Joseph Awad, immediate past president of the New York State Trial Lawyers Association and head of its medical malpractice committee, counters by saying that high malpractice insurance rates are caused by a refusal of doctors to police themselves, in effect allowing the actions of a few to result in steep rates for the rest.

Malpractice costs have docs seeking shelter elsewhere [Via Long Island Business News]

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