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Medical Malpractice Insurance
Ongoing Crisis Ails Physicians
by Florence Jameson, M.D.

In defense of keeping our doctors in Nevada, I would ask: Is there a problem for doctors practicing medicine in Nevada? There is. I can speak for my profession as an OB/GYN who has been practicing in Nevada for nearly 20 years.

I know many of the OB/GYNs who have left this state or have closed their private practices because of the malpractice crisis. All would tell you there is a crisis.

The fact physicians, health care providers and new hospitals have been able to recruit physicians to come to Nevada does not mean a crisis does not exist. We have a severe shortage of OB/GYN physicians in Nevada. Ask hospitals and they will tell you. Nevad is well-known nationally as one of the worst states for maedical practice because of our crisis.

A few points to ponder:
- Malpractice awards continue to skyrocket nationally.
-I am now personally the subject of two frivolous lawsuits, the first lawsuits in my nearly 20 years of practice in Nevada.
-Insurance companies continue to leave Nevada, the latest casualty being my own insurer, American Physicians Assurance.
-It is virtually impossible for physicians with open claims to find insurance.
-Insurance rates for those who can obtain it continue to escalate, making it virtually unaffordable.
-Private practice is increasingly becoming a nightmare because of the sheer volume of patinets who need to be seen to keep the doors open.

These factors make an already stressful profession virtually unbearable. There is a very real possibility that I will have to close my doors next year. Trial attorneys are simply not telling the truth when they declare that there is not a crisis.

It has been made clear by representatives from the insurance industry that insurance companies will not come to Nevada as long as there is no cap or a loose cap on non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering.

Question #4 is a duplicitous intitiative funded by the trial attorneys to eliminate caps, thereby helping to keep insurance companies out of Nevada.

Questioin #5 is equally duplicitous in suggesting it will reduce frivolous lawsuits.

Trial attorneys will do everything in their power- and you will see it as they spend millions in advertising - to convince you there is no problem.

As a physician in the trenches who has seen many colleagues fall, don't let the deep pockets of trail attorneys and their duplicitous tactics fool you. There is a crisis.

Florence Jameson, M.D.
Las Vegas