MAHONING VALLEY Malpractice insurance cost pushes doctors into politics

Your doctor may be suggesting how you should vote this fall.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Organized medicine in the Mahoning Valley is taking its campaign for malpractice insurance reform to the next level -- this fall's political campaign for Ohio Supreme Court seats.
"None of us went into medicine so that we'd become politicians, but this is what it's become. My future in this community depends on the political climate of this state," said Dr. Anthony DeSalvo, president-elect of the Trumbull County Medical Society.
Dr. DeSalvo was one of nine panelists in a multimedia forum Wednesday at Youngstown State University, which was attended by about 100 people, mostly local physicians and other health-care professionals.
The forum coincided with the launch of the fall phase of a well-orchestrated and well-funded media campaign.
The campaign was launched earlier this year by the Tri-County Physicians for Patients' Rights, which hired Prodigal Media Co., a Boardman advertising agency, to coordinate the effort.
The group is made up of members of the Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana County medical societies.
Jeff Hedrich, president of Prodigal Media Co., who moderated the forum, said the tri-county group could not endorse particular candidates in the forum because it is not a political action committee, but physicians would be free to name their favorite candidates in individual conversations with patients.
In this phase of the campaign, physicians are being encouraged to discuss the Ohio Supreme Court races with their patients, Dr. DeSalvo said.
Here's the campaign
Four of the seven seats on the state's highest court are up for election Nov. 2. The print, TV and billboard campaign slogan is "Ask your doctors who they'll vote for this November."
The composition of the high court will be decisive in whether malpractice reforms, including caps ranging from $350,000 to $1 million on noneconomic damage awards which the state Legislature enacted last year, will be upheld, Dr. DeSalvo said.
"It is imperative that the state Supreme Court stay in a makeup that is favorable to keep the current laws enforceable," Dr. DeSalvo added.
"We would like to get our patients behind us to become active participants in saving their own health care," said Dr. Marc Saunders, president of the Mahoning County Medical Society.
Sixty percent annual increases in malpractice insurance premiums are causing local physicians to relocate to other states, retire early or quit performing high-risk procedures, he said.
The tri-county group's Web site, wheredoesithurt.org, has a link to Ohio Patients for a Fair Court, a political action committee, which says its mission is to educate health-care professionals and patients about the high court races.
Preferred candidates
OPFC is campaigning for re-election of Thomas J. Moyer, the state's chief justice since 1987; election of Justice Terrence O'Donnell, who was appointed to the high court last year by Gov. Bob Taft; and the election of Judge Judith Lanzinger of Ohio's 6th District Court of Appeals. All are Republicans. Running unopposed for re-election is Republican Justice Paul E. Pfeifer.
Dr. DeSalvo said the candidates' previous writings and rulings indicate whether they're inclined to interpret law or to create new law. He said he'd favor candidates who'd limit themselves to interpreting law.
Ann Womer Benjamin, director of the Ohio Department of Insurance, said Ohio officials are reviewing the idea of establishing a patient compensation fund as has been done in other states.
"States with tort reform have more stable medical malpractice liability markets," she said.
Dr. Lois Margaret Nora, president and dean of Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine, said the malpractice legal climate influences which specialties medical students choose and where they will go to serve their residencies and establish their practices.
Members of the college's class of 2004 have told her they'd like to stay in Ohio but will likely leave if the malpractice issue isn't resolved by the time they finish their residency training, she added.