W.Va. doctors strike over insurance costs
WHEELING, West Virginia (CNN) --At least 39 surgeons walked off the job at
four hospitals in West Virginia on Wednesday to protest rising medical
malpractice insurance costs, officials said.
The hospitals are all in Wheeling, in the northern part of the state
sandwiched between Ohio and Pennsylvania. They now must transfer emergency
surgeries elsewhere and cancel planned procedures until the doctors end the
strike, which they have scheduled to do at the end of the month, officials
said.
"This is an emergency situation," said Dr. Donald Hofreuter, chief
executive of Wheeling Hospital, which as of midday Wednesday had
transferred one surgery patient to a hospital in Morgantown, approximately
80 miles away.
Eighteen surgeons from Wheeling Hospital walked out Wednesday, including
all those in general, orthopedic, and cardiac surgery, Hofreuter said.
Ohio Valley Medical Center is missing 13 surgeons from a variety of areas,
including general surgery and cardiovascular, spokesman Howard Gamble said.
Its emergency room will remain open throughout the strike, but patients
needing additional care will be transported to a hospital across the border
in Ohio, he said.
As of Wednesday morning, the hospital has not had to transfer anyone,
Gamble said.
Eight surgeons from various departments walked out at Reynolds Memorial
Hospital, a nursing supervisor there said, but so far has not had to
transfer any patients as a result of the action.
Weirton Medical Center is also affected by the walkout, but officials there
declined comment Wednesday.
The surgeons all sent requests for 30-day leaves of absence to their
hospitals, with an option to extend for another 30 days.
The hospitals -- which have had to face similar rising costs for their own
medical malpractice insurance -- say they expect the surgeons to return by
the end of January, if not before, as the governor and state legislature
work to pass new legislation to address what has now become a crisis.
Familiar issue to Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania averted a similar situation Tuesday when Gov.-elect Ed Rendell
proposed a $220 million bailout to stop 42 doctors from striking there. The
doctors, who ranged from neurosurgeons to orthopedists to ob-gyns, were
also protesting the high cost of medical malpractice insurance. (Full story)
Tony Gregory, a spokesman for the West Virginia Hospital Association, a
non-profit statewide group, said the tide is slowly turning in his state.
"The legislation is being presented to the legislature and the governor,
and there is a willingness to move on it," he said.
Hospital representatives said the biggest cost of the surgeons' absence
will be in the area of staffing, as nurses -- particularly those in the
surgical departments -- will have to be reduced. Financial costs are not
even being considered, they said.
West Virginia has been one of the most affected states in the issue of
rising malpractice insurance costs.
"There's virtually no insurance market in West Virginia," Gregory said.
"There are 60 commercial insurance carriers licensed to offer malpractice
insurance policies. However, few choose to do so."
That leaves surgeons dependent on the state plan for malpractice insurance,
the costs of which are extreme, officials said.
"That is as expensive or more expensive than what they were paying in the
commercial market," said Hofreuter.
Hospitals appear to sympathize with the striking surgeons, even as they are
left with major gaps in their staff. Ohio Valley Medical Center currently
pays more than $10,000 a day for the state's malpractice insurance for the
hospital, a cost that will only increase if the legislature does not pass
relief, Gamble said.
"We understand the surgeons' situation and urge Ohio Valley residents to
call upon state legislative leaders and Gov. [Bob] Wise to address this
problem before the situation leads to loss of surgical services," he said.
Gregory said the hospital association does not support the walkout, but
does understand the reasons behind it.
"It clearly represents their frustration in obtaining available and
affordable malpractice insurance," he said.
In the legislative session beginning January 8, lawmakers are due to
consider a bill very similar to the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act
passed in California in 1975. MICRA limited damages in claims against
medical providers for malpractice, restricted attorney contingency fees,
and established a statute of limitations for claims of medical negligence.
In the meantime, state officials are floating other options. The director
of the state insurance agency proposed, for instance, that Ohio Valley
Medical Center be approved as a Level 2 trauma center so surgeons could be
covered at a reduced insurance rate, Gamble said.
While the proposal is appealing to the hospital, Gamble said it does not do
enough to solve the existing problem of escalating insurance costs. It also
would not cover those physicians who do not provide trauma services, he said.
For now, officials are hopeful their surgeons will return soon.
"We're taking each day as it comes," said Hofreuter.
"We're hopeful that things may turn around in 2003," Gregory said.
Find this article at:
<<http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/01/01/medical.malpractice/index.html>>
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