The tradition of doctors’ offices being political-free zones could soon change.
The Washington State Medical Association is asking doctors to put petitions and pamphlets in their clinics supporting Initiative 330. The measure’s goal is to ask the state Legislature to take action on spiraling medical malpractice costs, including caps on so-called pain and suffering awards from juries.
“We would like to encourage all physicians to have petitions in their office, plus cards that direct patients to a Web site for more information” and answers to frequently asked questions about the initiative, said Jennifer Lawrence Hanscom, an association spokeswoman.
Although the group is hiring paid signature gatherers, “we want physicians to be the primary sources for gathering the signatures,” she said.
While the initiative has won the endorsement of the Snohomish County Medical Society, local doctors are split about whether it’s appropriate to bring politics into medical offices.
“Physicians in the main have an aversion to mixing politics with their professional medical practice,” said Dr. Kevin Ware, president of the county medical society. “But under the current circumstances, the need for malpractice insurance reform is so desperate that physicians are having to look seriously at departing from that custom.”
He and other area doctors have watched some area clinics go out of business, in part blaming soaring medical malpractice insurance rates. It was one of the reasons cited for the March 2002 closing of Everett’s Obstetrics and Gynecology Consultants.
Malpractice insurance costs also threatened baby delivery services in south Snohomish County last year, when Sound Women’s Care, the area’s only obstetrics practice, found it difficult to replace departing doctors because of high malpractice insurance rates.
This year, premiums will cost the Edmonds clinic $68,627. That’s why patients will probably find initiative petitions and pamphlets at the clinic, said administrator Beth Mueller.
“The staff … feel it’s important people understand that they may not be able to provide care in the future if the rates keep going up and we get to a point where we can’t afford them any more,” Mueller said.
Not all local clinics have decided to follow the Edmonds clinic.
“We’re not doing that,” said Carolyn Bodeen, director of operations for Medalia Medical Group, which treats about 200,000 patients at its eight clinics in Snohomish County.
The Everett Clinic, with nine medical clinics, two outpatient surgery centers and 270,000 patients, is paying close to $6 million this year in medical malpractice insurance costs. “It’s approaching 3 percent of our revenue,” said Rick Cooper, executive director.
The organization’s board has endorsed the initiative, he said, but has not yet decided whether to allow petitions and pamphlets in its waiting rooms or other clinic areas.
“I think we’ll participate somehow,” Cooper said. “The specifics are yet to be determined.”
The Everett Clinic previously has advocated for medical liability insurance reform on its Web site and in position papers. “If we ultimately decide to permit signature gathering within the organization, that would be precedent setting,” Cooper said.
At the five medical clinics owned by Stevens Hospital, “it is a clinic-by-clinic decision on whether the information is shared,” said spokeswoman Beth Engel.
Judy Massong, immediate past president of the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, said that while doctors have legitimate concerns about rising prices for medical malpractice “their initiative does nothing to address the insurance side of that issue.”
Massong, formerly a registered nurse, now works as an attorney. The trial lawyer’s group has filed its own competing initiative, she said. It would force insurance companies to open their books to the public if the requested rate increases more than 15 percent.
Both initiatives need 197,734 signatures to qualify.
If the necessary signatures are obtained, the Legislature can pass the initiative into law as written, ignore it, which automatically puts it on the 2005 state ballot, or modify its wording, and put both the original and modified initiative on the ballot, said Hanscom of the state’s medical association.
“There are a lot of physicians who are so incensed about what’s been going on that they’re willing to do almost anything that’s ethical to get this passed,” said Dr. Tony Roon, past president of the Snohomish County Medical Society.
“When it comes down to the fact that you have a problem as to whether you can stay in business and treat your patients it’s time for physicians to say something.”
Reporter Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.
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