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No Place to Be Born Paul Barringer and Richard Berkowitz
New York Sun, August 25, 2008 The recent Health Workforce study in New York revealed that 8 counties throughout New York state have no practicing obstetricians. Moreover, nearly half the counties in the United States lack a practicing obstetrician. Malpractice rates in New York are rising and Ob-Gyns are being hit especially hard. Paul Barringer and Dr. Richard Berkowitz point out that action must be taken. Obstetricians face some of the highest liability costs of any specialty, and New York has some of the highest rates in the country. Nearly 90% of obstetricains report they have been sued at least once in their career. In particular, neurological injuries can result in large settlements for the victims despite limited evidence that those injuries were the result of malpractice. A new proposal in Albany would create a no-fault compensation fund for infants with certain types of neurological birth-injuries. Under this scheme, qualifying children and their families would receive lifetime benefits at no cost while removing these cases from the tort system. Such an approach would compensate more children and would be more efficient than the tort system, providing relief more quickly than the average trial which can run upwards of 5 years. Florida and Virginia already have similar programs in place and studies suggest they have huge administrative savings for patients and providers alike. Legislation is currently pending in New York to make this system a reality and could provide much needed relief to help keep local obstetricians in practice. ยป article
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