News :: Opinion
Arbitration Helps Medical Care
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Published: June 16, 2008
This response to the Tribune's June 1 editorial was written by Dr. Robert W. Yelverton, chief medical officer of Women's Care Florida; Dr. Madelyn E. Butler, a physician with The Women's Group; and Dr. John S. Curran, president of the Hillsborough County Medical Association.
Your editorial ("New 'Hello' In Health Care: Sign Here Not To Sue"), concerning physicians' use of binding arbitration agreements was both erroneous and misleading, as was a response by letter write Deborah Green on June 9. Such distortions only serve to mask the growing problem patients have accessing health care in this state. The editors overlook the fact that the Florida Second District Court of Appeal recently upheld the validity of arbitration agreements between doctors and patients in a health care setting. In doing so, the Second District justices debunk many of the criticisms raised in the editorial.
It must be obvious to the editorial writers that we live in a litigious society. The high cost of medical malpractice awards has been the driving factor in the cost of professional liability insurance. This is especially true for physicians practicing in high-risk specialties such as obstetrics. With Florida leading all other states with the highest medical malpractice insurance rates in the nation, we have a crisis as physicians leave our state in search of less threatening environments.
Physicians who choose to stay are facing tough decisions, including limiting their practices in order to decrease liability and insurance premiums. For traditional amounts of professional liability insurance, obstetricians in Florida pay over $100,000 a year, per physician, in premiums. In our state, we have already seen maternity wards shut down and obstetricians abandoning their practices because the risks are too high to continue. Even as they continue to practice, hundreds of Florida obstetricians have made the decision to carry no liability insurance.
Florida's patients deserve the availability of quality health care from physicians. Physicians, in turn, must be able to practice medicine in an environment that does not threaten their livelihood and calling. For this reason, many physicians specializing in obstetrics and gynecology in the Tampa Bay area have chosen to use binding arbitration as an alternative method for settling professional liability disputes. In these programs, patients view a video and receive written material explaining the program. They have an opportunity to discuss the program fully with their physician if they have questions.
Binding arbitration agreements preserve the patient-physician relationship. They can allow both parties to more promptly resolve claims at a much lower cost. The Tribune editorial was in error in stating that in our programs, patients are not allowed to file a lawsuit. Arbitration programs offered by obstetricians in the Tampa Bay area allow our patients to select an attorney, file a lawsuit and apply the same law that a court would apply. The three mutually acceptable arbiters can award any amount of damages that a court can award. The only difference is that the ultimate decision on award of damages is made by the arbitration panel and not a jury. In the end, the only parties who do not benefit from binding arbitration are the trial lawyers.
Currently, Florida is recognized by physicians nationwide as a very hostile place to practice medicine. Binding arbitration is one way to attract and keep in Florida physicians who treat high-risk patients who are most in need of care. Patients have the freedom to seek care from someone else if they are uncomfortable with their physician's arbitration program. Currently, physicians are choosing to relocate to states such as Texas and California that have recently adopted reasonable tort reform and a favorable climate in which to practice medicine.
All we physicians want to do is to offer our patients the highest quality of medicine possible. We fervently hope that binding arbitration will allow us to do just that.
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