Illinois tries to keep its doctors

Illinois tries to keep its doctors

ILLINOIS: New law limits noneconomic damages awarded in suits to $500,000

By Lindsay Claiborn And Shawna Ryan
Medill News Service

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Sunday, March 26, 2006 12:03 AM CST

The bright green billboard on the front of the Illinois State Medical Society building on Michigan Avenue says it all.

"Keep Doctors in Illinois!" the large sign proclaims.

Officials at the society, which has 14,000 physician members -- about half of all doctors in Illinois -- are adamant that doctors are leaving Illinois for other states. The American Medical Association calls Illinois one of the nation's 21 states "in crisis."

Exact statistics on doctor retention are difficult to compile because only the active licenses of physicians are recorded, not whether they move out of state or retire. But the state medical society says that since 2003, in two counties alone, 160 physicians have left. The two downstate counties are St. Clair and Madison; they are near St. Louis.

Society officials say a new state law capping noneconomic damages in medical malpractice suits was a step in the right direction but doesn't go far enough. To keep doctors in the state, they are gearing for a possible legal challenge and informing doctors how they can find the lowest priced premiums for insurance.

Many doctors who have been the brunt of malpractice suits have been in the specializations of neurosurgery and obstetrics/gynecology.

According to a 2004 survey by the Illinois State Neurosurgical Society, the number of practicing neurosurgeons in Illinois dropped nearly 26 percent in only two years -- from 180 to 134.

Dr. Richard Byrne, a neurosurgeon at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, conducted his own phone survey, which found an even bigger drop -- 43 percent -- over the past 10 years in neurosurgeons staffing emergency rooms at Chicago-area community hospitals.

"Fewer doctors are willing to take on emergency care or do complex surgeries, which means there is a problem of getting adequate access to care," Byrne said. "It's difficult to readily find neurosurgeons on call."

Dr. Craig Backs, president of the society, commended the bill signed into law by Gov. Rod Blagojevich last August that limited the amount of noneconomic damages to be awarded in a malpractice suit to $500,000. The society originally had asked for the same cap that now exists in California: $250,000.

Mark McNabola, a personal injury attorney in Chicago, said the new law is nothing more than a play by big businesses to make money.

He disputed the society's figures, contending that the number of licensed doctors is actually increasing in Cook County, and that insurance companies are just trying to increase their profits.

"The public is unaware that this new law is solely based on politics and monies of the insurance companies," McNabola said.