Pa. Doctors Plan Rallies Over Insurance Rates

By Michael Ha

NU Online News Service, April 21, 4:06 p.m. EDT?More than 10,000 Pennsylvania doctors are expected to participate in next week's protest rallies to address their concern for soaring medical malpractice insurance costs, according to one of the organizers of the event.

"We will have protest rallies in Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia next Monday, and we will have more rallies until our demands are met," said Dr. James Tayoun, president of Philadelphia-based Politically Active Physicians Association, one of the organizers of the rallies. "We expect more than 10,000, and as many as 15,000 doctors to participate."

Dr. Tayoun said the main demands from doctors in his state include setting caps on non-economic damages at $250,000, as well as setting limits on contingency fees for lawyers involved in medical malpractice cases.

"We would like to see limits on how much attorneys can take," he said, explaining that lawyers' contingency fees can take away 30-to-40 percent of jury awards in addition to charges for the lawsuit costs.

The group said many doctors planning to participate in next week's events have cancelled their non-elective surgeries, office visits and other routine care scheduled during the protest. But the group promised that physicians would not leave emergency patients at risk and that emergency rooms would remain open, with doctors on call.

Tonight, some physicians planning to participate in rallies will attend meetings to discuss final details and learn more about managing their offices and handling the media, the group said.

Dr. Tayoun said Pennsylvania has been designated a "code blue" state by the American Medical Association in terms of its medical liability insurance crisis and that patients in his state have already lost 1,100 physicians due to rising medical malpractice insurance costs.

"We need to stop the hemorrhaging before one more physician is forced out of business," he said.

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Pa. Doctors Plan Rallies Over Insurance Rates

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