Martyn Goddard - Australian Consumers Association Health Spokesperson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ph: (02) 9577 3399 > Dear Andrea > Sounds also like Martyn Goddard and the Australian Consumers Association > needs educating any one know his contact details so we can write to hime > about midwifery options and their record of saftey and efficacy ?? > Denise Hynd > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Andrea Robertson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 7:38 PM > Subject: [ozmidwifery] Another article on the doctor's crisis > > >> Hi, >> >> Yet another article: Sydney Morning Herald, Aug 12, 2003 - Page 1 with big >> pic. The doctors bleating again about their insurance. I note that the >> doctor in Moree (featured in the huge pic, with a baby) says she still >> works at the hospital, so women aren't really missing out on obstetric >> care, just private medicine. >> >> ---------------------- >> >> Doctors at a premium in the litigation era >> Ruth Pollard and Ben Wyld report. >> August 12, 2003 >> >> >> Sixteen months after Australia's largest medical defence organisation >> collapsed, the true cost is >> only now emerging. >> >> At Westmead Hospital, obstetrician Andrew Pesce is worried. "Ten years >> ago," he says, "there were 15 of us providing obstetrics and gynecological >> services at Westmead to people in the area. There are now seven. >> >> "I now turn away more patients . . . than I look after. Our specialty is >> dying - the way that we practise has been corrupted by the expense of the >> litigation and the psychological impact that it has on the practitioners." >> >> General surgeons, neurosurgeons and others paint the same bleak picture. >> Doctors will keep quitting the >> profession because their insurance way too high - despite Federal >> Government subsidies, significant state law reform and Canberra's action > to >> prop up United Medical Protection since the insurer went into provisional >> liquidation last year. >> >> W ithout Government subsidies, obstetricians face annual premiums of up to >> $140,000. Dr Pesce, spokesman for the National Association of Specialist >> Obstetricians and Gynecologists, says 45 of the nation's 700 practising >> obstetricians left obstetric practice in 2001. >> >> "That is about six to seven per cent of the workforce. Last year it was >> even higher than that, and there is no indication it is going to get any >> better." >> >> One casualty of the crisis is Moree obstetrician and general practitioner >> Maxine Percival, who stopped doing private procedural obstetrics in May >> last year. Dr Percival, who would have faced a premium of $20,000 this > year >> if she had maintained her procedural insurance, now only practises >> obstetrics for the local public hospital. She said a loss of confidence in >> UMP forced her to give up her procedural work. >> >> "In obstetrics, litigation can be launched 25 years after the procedure," >> Dr Percival said. "I don't know if UMP or their subsidiary will be around >> next year, let alone in 25 years' time." >> >> The Government stepped into the indemnity crisis after UMP went into >> provisional liquidation with unfunded liabilities of $460 million. UMP had >> about 30,000 members, or two-thirds of the country's doctors. The >> Government rescue package is estimated to be worth $260 million over four >> years. >> >> Dr Percival says that for women in Moree, who don't want to be admitted to >> the district hospital as a public patient, the alternative is a three-hour >> trip to the nearest obstetrician in Tamworth. >> >> "For towns that are relatively isolated, you can't put pregnant women in >> the back of an ambulance and transfer them three hours away, hoping they >> get there without having their baby." >> >> Dr Pesce said Federal Government subsidies had helped to make medical >> indemnity more affordable for obstetricians but the pressures, both >> financial and legal, continued to bite. >> >> The president of the NSW Neurosurgical Association, Dr Warwick Stening, > had >> warned last year that 10 of the state's 30 neurosurgeons would resign if >> the medical indemnity crisis continued. In a move to reduce medical >> misadventure, cut premiums and thereby halt the exodus, neurosurgeons >> launched a project to identify and measure risk in the hospital system and >> to manage better the risk of neurosurgical procedures. Working with NSW >> Health, the risk-management model will be rolled out in the next year. >> >> "We are still a long way from solving the problem, but this is a positive >> step that we have taken which will allow us to identify problems before an >> unfavourable outcome occurs," Dr Stening said. "All we can do is to start >> to reduce the number of claims by reducing the number of adverse > incidents." >> >> Dr Stening said the NSW Government's Health Care Liability Act of 2001 and >> the Civil Liability Act of 2002, along with Federal Government subsidies, >> had helped ease the financial pressure on neurosurgeons. >> >> But that was not to say, he said, that a special new levy - imposed on >> doctors in case of a claim against them - would not hurt the rest of the >> medical profession. A recent survey of 750 general surgeons aged over 55 >> has found that one in five intends to retire in the near future. Nearly > 100 >> per cent of them nominate medical indemnity as the reason. >> >> Many experts are placing their hopes on the establishment of a federally >> administered fund for the catastrophically injured. This would help cut >> medical indemnity premiums. Yet after 10 months of meetings, progress on >> achieving such a fund is no closer. >> >> Dr Pesce said: "The Government has made great effort to improve the >> situation . . . we now need substantial reform of the remaining uncapped >> liabilities that doctors face, and that is for the long-term care costs > for >> the catastrophically injured." >> >> The Assistant Treasurer, Helen Coonan, said the long-term scheme was >> definitely on the national agenda. "You cannot contemplate a proper system >> of professional standards for doctors . . . without having regard for the >> long-term care needs of those catastrophically injured by medical > negligence." >> >> It was November 2001 when a court handed down a decision that would send >> shockwaves through the medical fraternity. Sydney woman Calandre Simpson, >> who suffers from cerebral palsy, was awarded $14.2 million after she >> successfully sued the doctor who botched her delivery. >> >> It was almost twice the previous highest award, and it highlighted the >> vulnerability of both the country's medical insurance industry, and >> individual doctors. The payout has since been reduced to just under $11 >> million on appeal. >> >> The tort law reforms put in place by the federal and state governments >> since the collapse of UMP, six months after the Simpson decision, have hit >> consumers hard, according to the senior health policy officer for the >> Australian Consumers Association, Martyn Goddard. >> >> They would simply deliver increasing wealth to insurance companies and do >> nothing to lower the cost of premiums, Mr Goddard said. "The real cause of >> the bulk of indemnity rises wasn't a sudden increase in litigation - there >> has been no such increase - it was changes to the structure of the >> global reinsurance market." >> >> The Federal Government clearly needed to intervene in the medical >> reinsurance market, he said. "They are doing the opposite, which is trying >> to reduce premiums by subsidies and by limiting patients' rights." >> >> --------------------------------- >> >> ----- >> Andrea Robertson >> Birth International * ACE Graphics * Associates in Childbirth Education >> >> e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> web: www.birthinternational.com >> >> >> -- >> This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. >> Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe. >> > > > -- > This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. > Visit <http://www.acegraphics.com.au> to subscribe or unsubscribe. -- This mailing list is sponsored by ACE Graphics. 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