| 08/13/2007 |
| Birth of phony ‘crisis’ |
| Editor:
It is no secret our health care industry is in need of serious
reform. Insurance companies continue to reap high profits while
denying care to patients and cutting payments to physicians. In
Pennsylvania, hospital-acquired infections and medical errors
add billions of dollars in unnecessary billings to the system
annually. Over the past year or so, we have read reports that our local hospitals were working to try to rein in out-of-control costs by, among other things, merging and avoiding duplication of services. Against this reality, CMC and Mercy hospitals indicated they would be dropping their birthing programs in favor of the one being run at Moses Taylor Hospital. Sadly and erroneously, CMC has now chosen to justify its decision by running an ad placing the entire reason for closing its maternity ward on an alleged “malpractice crisis,” which it claims made it hard to attract obstetricians to staff its facility. They are hoping your readers have a short memory. Just over a year ago, on May 2, 2006, The Times-Tribune published an article, “Local hospitals reject the idea of shortage of obstetricians.” The article said CMC, just in the previous year, had hired five new obstetricians and had three more in private practice who routinely used its facilities. One doctor proclaimed, “There is not a shortage here in the city — we have a plethora. This is one of the few areas we probably have an abundance of obstetricians.” CMC is merging with Moses Taylor and it makes no sense to continue to operate separate facilities. In addition, the need for obstetricians has fallen dramatically as the population of our state and region has aged and many women pass out of their child-bearing years. Also, reimbursements from the insurance industry and government programs often pay less than the full cost of providing maternity care. The truth is, it’s a business decision that has nothing to do with the mythical “malpractice crisis.” Yet CMC, like so many of its counterparts, takes every opportunity to beat the drum for “tort reform” in an effort to take away the rights of wrongfully injured patients. An advertisement might allow CMC face-saving spin in the court of public opinion, but a court of law would have required the whole truth. ATTORNEY DAVID I. FALLK PRESIDENT, THE COMMITTEE FOR JUSTICE FOR ALL SCRANTON |