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Not a crisis?

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Illinois

Here is the link to the Southern Illinoisan’s surprising medical malpractice story that was referenced in today’s Capitol Fax.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Apr 15, 05 @ 6:19 am

Comments

I thought we had a medical crisis in SI? How the heck did they get a doctor to move there? How can this be? Frank W. and the SI boys have based their entire legislative agenda on this issue and now they have a doctor saying it isn’t a crisis.

Comment by TheNEEF Friday, Apr 15, 05 @ 8:58 am
The guy has “several” malpractice claims against him, pays “a little under” $300K in medmal premiums, he is the ONLY neurosurgeon south of I-64, and he says there’s no crisis? That giant “POP!” you just heard was the sound of him pulling his head out…

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Apr 15, 05 @ 10:14 am
Yeah, time to do away with medical malpractice altogether!

If a doctor screws up, and it costs you your health, home, and life savings, you can just file bankruptcy…oh, wait..

Comment by BuckTurgidson Friday, Apr 15, 05 @ 10:17 am
From the Code of Hammurabi, Section 218:

If a physician shall make a large incision with a lancet and kill him, or open a tumor with the lancet and take out the eye, they shall cut his hand off.

That’d cut down on yer med malp!

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Apr 15, 05 @ 11:56 am
For anonymous 4/15, Dr. G just moved here from Missouri, if you’d read earlier coverage, so my bet is he was sued in Missouri (a cap state), which is pretty tough to blame on Illinois’ legal system.

Also, if you’d read the recent Rockford Register-Star article, you’d know that many times when a doc comes to work at a hospital, the hospital picks up his malpractice premiums, which I’m guessing is part of what he was refering to in the article.

Also, when you’re the only neurosurgeon in a vast region, that’s a good thing for you.

Finally, if you go to the latest industry report from Medical Economics Magazine you’ll see that the average neurosurgeon is still taking home $396,000 a year - after insurance premiums and all other expenses are paid.

Here’s a quote from their survey about what medical industry experts are saying:

“As is always the case, the income picture also changes considerably by geography, the size of the practice, age, gender, and a number of other variables. Job-hunting physicians, for instance, might want to remember the following factoid: You’ll make the most down South. Doctors there earned a median $200,000 in 2003, $40,000 more than their Eastern counterparts, who were at the bottom of the income pecking order.

What accounts for the difference? Supply and demand is one likely explanation. Eastern states on the whole have more physicians per capita than any other region. Massachusetts, for example, had 419 physicians per 100,000 population in 2001, about two and half times the rate in Mississippi and twice the rate in Texas. Doctors in short supply tend to be busier. Conversely, insurers have more bargaining power to drive down fees where doctors abound, adds Dan Stech.

Physician income also tends to rise where HMOs are weakest.”

In other words, the doctors benefit from the shortage, which is why the AMA has perversely been lobbying against more money for doctor training in Congress; USA Today recently reported that has led to a nationwide shortage of physicians.

Interestingly enough, while the article talks throughout of all the reasons why doctors are/aren’t making money, medical malpractice litigation and premiums aren’t mentioned once.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, Apr 15, 05 @ 12:44 pm
The showboat Governor did some good referals but no actual legal work with Bob Clifford.

Comment by Anonymous Saturday, Apr 16, 05 @ 10:43 pm
“For anonymous 4/15, Dr. G just moved here from Missouri, if you’d read earlier coverage, so my bet is he was sued in Missouri (a cap state), which is pretty tough to blame on Illinois’ legal system.”

What you can blame on the Illinois legal system is that the two other southern Illinoisan neurosugeons left, and this guy is the only one there now. And yes, this guy’s malpractice premiums are being picked up by the hospital who’s employing him. So to him, at the present time, there’s no crisis.

We’ll see how little of a crisis there is when the hospital employing him can no longer get malpractice insurance for him at any price, and has to let him go, like just happened to a neurosurgeon buddy of mine.

Comment by Eye Doc Monday, Apr 18, 05 @ 1:26 pm