The Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University released a recent study where medical students about to embark on their career were asked where they intended to practice medicine. Fifty percent stated that they would not practice in Illinois due to the cost of medical malpractice liability insurance.
Dr. Robertson, the author of the study stated that the state’s tort system is “toxic” and stated in a press release: ” The Illinois Supreme Court’s decision to lift the liability caps seems to send the message that the potential for litigation supersedes the need for residents of Illionois to get needed healthcare”.
According to Dr. Steven Malkin in the press release “If a graduating resident sets up shop in any of our neighboring states, the liability premiums will be about a third to half of what he or she would pay in Illinois….Graduates feel it often doesn’t make sense to stick around, unless they have a strong Illinois family connection”.
Not only outlying communities in Illinois will suffer doctor shortages. Most states that do not have caps on malpractice awards are in jeopardy of the same fate.
As I have said in many of my previous blogs, the tort system must be revamped along with healthcare reform. The later can not survive without the former.
Are you listening, legislators?
