Scranton Times Tribune

Letters to the Editor

02/01/2004

Threats No Cure Editor: In a Jan. 11 column by Dr. Charles Bannon, the medical establishment again plays the game of panic politics. Last year they sounded a false alarm that doctors were leaving the commonwealth. Then a congressional survey, the state licensing board and the MCARE fund released figures showing the number of physicians had increased. I remember an interview where Dr. Bannon admitted that the "tactic" of a doctor exodus was not one that they should foist upon the public again. Well, apparently short on memory and ideas, they're at it again. It is a fact that damage caps are a fictional solution to this insurance problem. Remember the well-publicized local doctor who ran off to Maryland because that state had a cap? The doctors there just rallied because their insurance rates are skyrocketing. Florida and Texas were railroaded into curtailing damages, but insurers jacked up rates by as much as 45 percent. I fail to see how imposing a cap is better than insurance reform or the elimination of malpractice itself. We never hear the medical society advocating for the removal of the code of silence that surrounds a physician's record, nor do we hear who the bad doctors are. Instead of promoting win-win solutions, doctors and hospitals insist on advocating the most polarizing position, i.e., limiting the rights of the injured. Even worse, the doctors have now allied themselves with the tobacco industry, drug companies and corporate polluters in pushing an amendment that would cap liability for those industries. Sure, the doctors will take hundreds of millions of our tax dollars, but they pledge nothing in return except more threats, warnings and the scaring off of fellow professionals. It's time for a second opinion. DEBBIE KELL Scranton

©Scranton Times Tribune 2004