• 'I've decided to stand on this issue' •
• source - Scranton Times - Tribune - By Jennifer L. Henn •
He made no fancy speeches.
He shook hands and called others by first names.
He asked questions.
And when the relaxed roundtable discussion was nearly over, he made his intentions known.
Urged by a panel member to "stand strong" in his mission to achieve federal limits on medical malpractice jury awards, President Bush promised he would.
"Let me say one thing about myself: If I decide to stand, I stand strong. And I've decided to stand on this issue," he said.
Mr. Bush listened to nearly an hour's worth of stories and comments from 10 doctors and patients -- including three from Scranton. The doctors told him about their struggles to obtain and pay for medical malpractice insurance, about giving up their practices and leaving patients. And they blamed the trial lawyers who they said are bankrupting the health care industry through frivolous lawsuits.
"The lawyers would have you believe this (malpractice crisis) is because of insurance companies and bad doctors. It's not," said Dr. Michael Prendergast, retired urologist and chairman of the Pennsylvania Medical Society. "We desperately need to reform this out-of-control system ... and we all know who our enemies are."
Lawyers and patients' rights groups oppose the president's plan, which would limit the amount of money a malpractice plaintiff could receive for pain and suffering to $250,000.
Scranton anesthesiologist Dr. Debra DeAngelo attended the meeting and told Mr. Bush she can no longer afford her malpractice insurance. Her premiums have jumped nearly 75 percent in the last two years, she said. As a result, she is planning to close her 4-year-old pain management practice Jan. 31, leaving 2,000 patients to find new doctors.
"It's a very difficult decision to leave," she said.
"Gotta be," the president replied.
"My whole philosophy for being here is not about my story, there are hundreds of those. This (problem) is a cancer," Dr. DeAngelo went on to say. "We know how to fix it. We can fix it."
"If I didn't think we could, I wouldn't be sitting here," Mr. Bush replied.
Joey Lee, one of Dr. DeAngelo's patients, also joined the panel and told Mr. Bush he is worried about how a new doctor will treat him.
"(Dr. DeAngelo) has given me my life back," said the 37-year-old, who suffers from reflexive dystrophy.
Losing Dr. DeAngelo will be hard because of the close bond Mr. Lee has formed with her, he said. "I don't know how my new doctor is going to react to me."
Dr. Prendergast told the president that in the last three years, nearly 900 doctors have retired, left private practice, moved to another state or limited their services because of the malpractice debacle.
"I think the worst is yet to come," he said.
And James E. May, president and CEO of Mercy Health Partners, told the president how tough it's been to recruit new doctors to the area because of the malpractice costs.
"We have a local cardiology group advertising for six months now for a new doctor and they have zero applications," he said. "Usually they get 40 to 50."
Scranton Times Tribune 2003
JoeyLee.com Site Navigation
http://www.joeylee.com