Summer 2003 - Chicago Medical Society

Coming to a community near you...Tort system pulls plug on life supportfor health-care accessOn a warm June evening at the DuSable Museum ofAfrican-American History during the annual CMS dinner,I harbored no pretense that I would be enjoying anidyllic summer vacation. Indeed, the very next day, as yournewly installed president, I testified before the CongressionalBlack Caucus. A few days later, I joined current AMA presidentDon Palmisano and past president Yank Coble at the ChicagoTribune's editorial board meeting. Four days after my inauguration,along with many of you, I met President George W.Bush as part of our continued push for tort reform andMedicare reform. My first week in office concluded as I contributedto the collective voice of physician leaders from acrossthe country at the AMA House of Delegates.As members of the healing profession, we are navigatingtreacherous seas in which the survival of our practices is atstake. The past few months have been consumed with callsfrom and meetings with our members who have been strugglingto find available, and dare I say "affordable" liability insurance. The frustration--embodiedby Illinois' largest mass physician protest in almost 20 years--is palpable. Our colleagues feelthat they have no control over the most important factors that govern their lives. We have metwith ISMIE and will continue that dialogue. But CMS must continue to explore specific directions--includingthe concept of establishing an insurance brokerage--and to implement viable solutionsto help address the needs of our members in crisis.The presence of over 4,000 of our colleagues in Daley Plaza in May was a statement that didnot fall upon totally deaf ears. However, most physicians agree that we need to accelerate andredouble our efforts. The alternative is to sit on the sidelines and watch as an increasing numberof our colleagues:• limit their practices, thus removing their unique abilities and specialty skills from the communitiesthat have benefited from their years of dedicated service;• flee to Indiana and Wisconsin, where state liability laws are more aligned with the watershedMICRA legislation in California, enacted a quarter of a century ago; or• leave the practice of medicine completely for premature retirement or alternative careers.4 Chicago MedicineVol. 106, No. 11