Doctors protest insurance rates, lawsuits

SAN ANTONIO, April 8 (UPI) -- Hundreds of doctors closed their offices across South Texas Monday in an organized demonstration against skyrocketing malpractice insurance premiums spurred by a rising number of lawsuits in the region.

"This is making health care much more expensive and much harder to get," Dr. Antonio Cavazos said. "Some doctors are retiring early, and others are limiting their services. The public doesn't realize this."

The doctors called their action not a strike, but a "day of awareness." Most simply declined to schedule patients during the rallies and physicians said no patients were denied care because of their unprecedented action.

Emergency rooms were open at all the hospitals in the area and doctors said they would handle any urgent needs that arose during the day.

Figures released by the Bexar County Medical Society in San Antonio indicate nearly two-thirds of all Texas doctors have been sued for malpractice in the past 13 years, but 84 out of every 100 lawsuits were dismissed as frivolous before they could be tried.

"If I had 84 out of 100 of my surgical cases die, I wouldn't be in practice very long," said Dr. Marc Taylor, a plastic surgeon.

One doctor said her malpractice insurance bill has risen from $8,000 a year ago to $39,000 a year. Others said they are declining to treat new patients or dropping some areas of specialty care due to the malpractice crisis.

At a rally at the Bexar County courthouse in San Antonio, several doctors confronted a briefcase-toting attorney as he walked down the front steps, yelling he should cut down on the number of malpractice lawsuits.

"Doctors need lawyers too," the attorney shot back.

The idea for a one-day doctors strike started in the Rio Grande Valley, where hundreds of doctors rallied on the steps of the Hidalgo County Courthouse in Edinburg. The valley is one of the poorest regions of the country, and has long been seen by plaintiffs' attorneys as a petitioners heaven due to the anti-establishment attitude.

"All of this administrative mess and litigation time cuts down on the doctor's availability and does nothing to help patient care," emergency room physician, Dr. Don Gordon said in San Antonio.

Many of the doctors warned if tort reforms were not imposed, the result would be skyrocketing bills for patients, higher insurance rates and fewer doctors available, especially in rural areas.

In Austin, Jerry Johns, president of the Southwestern Insurance Information Service, said the insurance industry is "very sympathetic" with the doctors' complaints but part of the problem is the propensity today to file lawsuits.

"Certainly there are lawsuits that are justified, but what we feel would be part of the solution to their problem is legislation which would address the frivolity in some of the lawsuits that are filed," he said.

Johns said many of the lawsuits result in "very high jury verdicts," which drive up insurance premiums.