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Wednesday, February 28, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
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Doctors not leaving despite large suits
By Chris Siron
Kansan staff writer
While some West Virginia doctors may leave their state after a record malpractice award, Kansas doctors have not despite fears of similar decisions.
Instead the doctor used forceps to remove the baby, causing a cutoff of oxygen and a brain hemorrhage.
In Charleston, W. Va., last week a state jury awarded $15.25 million to a couple after their obstetrician failed to perform a Caesarean section that might have prevented brain damage to their child. The jury found that the doctor should have performed the Caesarean section when the child got stuck in the birth canal during delivery.
Bruce Berry, chairman of the West Virginia section of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, said the award might compound a growing shortage of obstetricians in that state. The number of obstetricians in West Virginia has dropped from 135 to 65 in the past five years.
Although malpractice awards are increasing, the number of Kansas doctors remains steady.
Myrna Harman, investigator for the Kansas Board of Healing Arts, said that more than 1,300 medical students in Kansas in the past five years.
"The result of medical malpractice is almost always a need for further medical care." Smith said. "With health-care costs increasing 8 to 10 percent each year, malpractice settlements are going to go up too."
Ron Smith, legislative counsel for the Kansas Bar Association, said increasing settlements mirrored increasing health care costs.
"You have to remember that most large settlements are knocked down 30 to 40 percent after appeals. Also, many cases are settled out-of-court before appeals for less than the original award." Smith said.
Steve Sanford, lawyer for the Kansas Health Care Stabilization Fund, said 28 medical malpractice cases reached Kansas court last year. In
24 of those cases, the doctors were found not guilty. In the other cases, plaintiffs received judgments averaging about $2.1 million. The 1988 average was $795,791.
He said the 1989 average was higher because of a $6.3 million settlement. Other awards ranged from $65,000 to $132,000.
The $8.3 million settlement was against an anesthetist in Sedgwick County. He was accused of incorrectly administering anesthesia during surgery. The patient left the hospital in distress state. The case is being appealed.
Sanford said the Health Care Stabilization Fund started in 1976 as a state-supported malpractice insurance program. It began because private insurance was inadequate to pay large malpractice settlements. Doctors, hospitals and other health care providers pay into the fund, which has accumulated more than $100 million.
Sanford said the state fund paid more than $12 million in out-of-court settlements in 1989. This amount did not include private insurance companies' settlement contributions, which were up to $200,000 a case.
Sanford said insurance companies settled another 216 medical malpractice claims without money from the fund. The amounts of these settlements are not available to the public.
"I do believe judgments and settlements are excessive. It is mostly fueled by judicial inefficiency," he said. "Some of the largest awards are set up to justify huge legal fees."
Sanford said the Kansas Legislature needed to limit money awards in malpractice suits to reasonable amounts. With these limits, fewer people would be awarded. Kansas practices because of excessive risk and costs. There already is a $250,000 cap on pain-and-suffering awards in Kansas.
Smith said he opposed limits on awards because they did not account for inflation and other factors.
"If a person suffers from malpractice when he is young, his family may lose his potential income from 40 years of work," he said. "When you figure their hospital expenses into their loss of income, you see how unfair the limits are."
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