Lawyer claims there's no medical malpractice crisis in state

By Fred Ney , Citizens' Voice Staff Writer 09/10/2003

Hazleton Attorney Robert Powell, president of The Committee for Justice for All ... Tuesday cited a federal government report to support their claim that there is no malpractice crisis in Pennsylvania, contrary to what doctors say. Powell said a federal General Accounting Office study was recently and quietly released because its findings did not buttress President Bush's national tort reform agenda. "The report suggests that the AMA has misled the American people, state and federal legislators, the news media and even doctors," he asserted. Powell said the report was commissioned by three Republican legislators who support the Bush administration's tort reform goals. "They expected the report to support the doctor's claims, but the report found just the opposite," he stated. Powell said the GAO report made four important points: that malpractice insurance is up because of bad investments and mismanagement, not increased lawsuits; that there is no evidence lawsuits cause defensive medicine; that there is no evidence of a mass exodus of doctors due to malpractice insurance rate increases and there has been no reduction in medical service as a consequence of the controversy. However, Dr. Gary Verazin, a local surgeon who has been an outspoken advocate for the medical community, said the GAO report cited by Powell originates from Chicago, not Washington, and it conflicts with another GAO report from Washington that does support tort reform legislation. "They're just playing games. This is a hoax...it's a lie," Verazin declared after reviewing a four- page summary of the GAO report produced by the Committee for Justice for All. But Powell said the GAO report analyzed data from nine states, including Pennsylvania, five of which have been identified as "crisis states." It found that while claims against insurers increased since 1998, it was due to "multiple factors" including losses from investment income and mismanagement that led some insurers to become insolvent or leave the market. Also, reinsurance rates spiked sharply, causing insurers' costs to rise. The report found "no evidence" that lawsuits contributed to "defensive medicine." "In short, the report failed to find any impact of state tort laws on medical spending," Powell stated. The report also "found no evidence of the doctor exodus so often cited by tort reformers," according to Powell. He said the report actually found that the number of doctors in Pennsylvania "increased slightly during the past six years." The Pennsylvania Medical Society, it was noted, reported that 24 gynecologists left the state between 2002 and 2003 due to malpractice concerns. However, the state's population of women from 18 to 40 years of age fell by 18,000 in that time period, thus reducing the market for such services. Powell said the "most important" finding in the report was that "there was no substantial reduction in medical services as a result of the current insurance climate." He said one rural hospital in Pennsylvania "identified the hospital's rural location, the area's large Medicaid population and low Medicare reimbursement rates as factors contributing to physicians' decisions to leave." Powell stated, "The GAO report clearly confirms what we have been saying all along...that the medical lobby is using unsubstantiated claims and scare tactics to blackmail the public and the legislature into taking away the right of victims injured through no fault of their own." He added, "It's time for the Pennsylvania Medical Society to stop blaming victims for rising insurance costs...Without malpractice there would be no lawsuits...They don't want you to know that malpractice kills nearly 100,000 Americans a year in hospitals alone...more than the total number of soldiers killed in the Vietnam War." Powell said hospitals often don't report disciplinary actions against doctors and that Pennsylvania is 43 among the states in doctor discipline. "No one believes that rate increases doctors are being subjected to are fair. All we ask is that the parties involved in this issue start telling the truth, stop spreading misinformation designed to cause public panic and start putting that blame for today's crisis where it belongs." Powell concluded. But Dr. Verazin cited numbers from a medical group that claims 1,329 doctors left the state because of skyrocketing malpractice insurance rates. He noted that the alarming claim that 98,000 people die yearly in hospital from malpractice is a "gross distortion." He said that number includes people who don't take medicines as prescribed, heroin and other drug overdoses and terminal cancer victims. "The real number of malpractice cases is between 8,000 to 14,000 (yearly)," he stated. He also asserted that the only reason why medical services are keeping pace with demand is because "doctors are working much harder and longer to accommodate the need." Verazin warned that the time is fast approaching when existing doctors in the state will be unable to keep up an increasingly exhausting work schedule. He also noted that local doctors are sending more and more patients out of town and out of state for certain services.

ŠThe Citizens Voice 2004