PA. MALPRACTICE Students take stand against high costs

Just Tuesday, juries ordered two verdicts of $15 million and $20 million.
GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) -- More than 1,200 medical students have threatened to leave the state unless legislators and Gov. Ed Rendell find a way to rein in ballooning medical malpractice insurance rates.
Students at six Pennsylvania medical schools sent a letter Monday to Rendell saying the "uncontrolled cost of malpractice insurance in this state is a staggering obstacle to establishing a career here," the Tribune-Review of Greensburg reported for today's editions.
The students also asked for a meeting with Rendell and sent him a petition with thousands of signatures from students at the Jefferson Medical College, Penn State University, Temple University, the University of Pittsburgh and the Lake Erie and Philadelphia colleges of osteopathic medicine.
Student's comments
"We represent the pool of future physicians in this state," said Matthew Neal, of Punxsutawney, a student at Pitt's medical school, who spearheaded the petition along with classmate James Starman. "Students ... do community outreach and volunteer work in the community and have ties to the community, but they face the prospect of not being able to come back to Pennsylvania."
Medical students can rack up as much as $200,000 of debt through medical school and may not be able to afford malpractice insurance in Pennsylvania, which has one of the worst medical malpractice insurance markets in the country, Starman said.
Just Tuesday, a Philadelphia jury ordered a Philadelphia surgeon to pay $15 million to the sister of television talk-show host Kelly Ripa for failing to properly repair her broken ankle. The same day, a second jury ordered one of the city's top surgeons to pay $20 million to a woman who suffered bowel problems after a gall bladder operation.
Governor's concern
Rendell spokeswoman Amy Kelchner said the governor shares the students' concerns. In December, Rendell signed a law offering doctors steep discounts on the annual payments they make to a state insurance fund in return for staying in the state for at least a year.
Under the package, every doctor in the state qualifies for at least a 50-percent reduction in the payments they make to the state's Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error fund, or MCare, in 2003 and 2004. Doctors in a select group of specialties who traditionally pay the highest insurance rates, including obstetricians, neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons, will have their MCare payment erased entirely for those years.
In his budget, unveiled Wednesday, Rendell earmarked part of $1.2 billion in higher taxes for malpractice insurance subsidies.
"If these students are concerned about long-term reform, we would welcome their support, and one way to do that is to cut down on medical errors," Kelchner said.
The Pennsylvania Medical Society echoed the students' sentiments but has not endorsed the students' petition, said spokesman Chuck Moran.
According to the medical society, 807 doctors fled the state between 2001 and 2002, an additional 163 retired early and 213 closed their offices or quit.