Too Many Doctors Leaving Ohio

Too Many Doctors Leaving Ohio By Jeff Longstreth

Imagine the following scenario. It’s four in the morning and your wife wakes you and says, “Honey, the baby’s coming”. You try to stay calm and go through the routine you have practiced. You throw on your clothes, grab the overnight bags, help your wife to the car and head for the hospital. En route, you call the doctor, and are shocked to hear the following message, “I’m sorry to inform you, but due to rising medical malpractice insurance rates, I am no longer able to afford to practice in Ohio. If this is an emergency, please call 911.” Now what? Is it time to panic? In Ohio, the answer is yes.

Don’t look now Ohio, but we are facing a crisis that’s forcing doctors out of the state. The crisis is especially troubling in rural counties which may have only one licensed OB-GYN. In this case, your baby is likely to be delivered by whichever emergency room doctor is on call. And, after the baby is born, you may have to drive an hour or more to the nearest big city for your follow up care.

Why has this happened? Unfortunately certain greedy personal injury lawyers, like the ones that often advertise on television, are in the business of suing people – and doctors are their number one target. They sue doctors because state law mandates that all doctors must have medical malpractice insurance. These personal injury lawyers know that the insurance providers that cover our doctors have the money to pay, and are often willing to settle a lawsuit rather than going to court, whether or not the doctor has actually committed malpractice.

Insurance companies use mathematical formulas to calculate their risk in writing malpractice policies. Jury awards, based on two different types of damages, are the driving force behind those formulas. Economic damages – those that can be measured, like medical bills and loss of wages – are fairly easy to predict based on the formulas. Non-economic damages – those that cannot be measured, like pain and suffering and punitive damages – are not as easy to predict.

The good news is that the Ohio Legislature recently enacted legislation that would allow the state to write malpractice insurance policies, while also placing caps on non-economic damage awards. Unfortunately, this does not mean that the medical malpractice crisis in Ohio is over.

Personal injury lawyers around the state have stated publicly that they intend to seek to have the caps deemed unconstitutional by the Ohio Supreme Court, just as they did with similar legislation that passed in 1996. Even if the personal injury lawyers are not successful in their challenge of the new law, it may take years for medical malpractice premiums to decline. The truth of the matter is that Ohioans cannot afford to wait.

Because of the rising medical malpractice liability premiums, experienced doctors are fleeing the state and newly licensed physicians are choosing to locate elsewhere. Where are they all going? One state that is very attractive is Texas. Last year, Texans got serious about curing their medical malpractice crisis and passed a Constitutional Amendment that allowed the legislature to set the caps on non-economic awards. This gave the insurance companies the confidence that a Supreme Court ruling would not put the caps in jeopardy. Less than six months after the Constitutional Amendment passed, the state’s largest insurance provider reduced premium rates by 12%.

Ohio is a state that places high importance on good values and hard work. We cannot sit by and allow runaway jury awards to threaten our access to quality medical care. It’s time for Ohioans at all levels to get serious about this crisis before it is too late. The State Legislature can only do so much; average Ohio citizens need to get involved in this fight to keep our doctors.

Jeff Longstreth is the Executive Director of Ohio Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (OCALA). OCALA is a non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots public education organization that represents over 6000 Ohio citizens. As Ohio’s watchdog for justice, OCALA’s mission is to inform the public about the cost of lawsuit abuse and to help ensure the legal system is used for justice, not greed. Their website is www.ohiocala.org.