W.Va. liability crisis motivates doctors to become candidates

Organized medicine leaders hope this is the beginning of a trend toward more physicians making bids for state legislatures.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. June 17, 2002.

Emergency medicine physician Dave Ebbitt, MD, felt he had to be pro-active if he wanted to continue practicing in West Virginia.

He's seen his liability premiums go from less than $10,000 annually to more than $40,000 annually in the past couple of years, with another 50% increase forecast for this year.

Dr. Ebbitt has watched colleagues leave the state, sometimes making referrals more difficult. Recruiting new physicians has become increasingly challenging, too.

"Somebody had to do something."

Dr. Ebbitt became that "somebody" when he decided to run for the House of Delegates. His dissatisfaction with his representative's voting record on medical liability and other physician issues was a motivating factor.

"I always thought I'd get politically involved," said Dr. Ebbitt, who attended the politically charged University of Wisconsin in Madison and trained in the Navy.

But he's not the only West Virginia physician to make the decision to run for election this November.

Eight doctors threw their hats in the ring for state House and Senate seats. That's believed to be a record physician-candidate turnout in West Virginia and possibly the nation.

Five doctors survived the May primary. Four candidates seek House seats. One is running for a state Senate seat. The director of the West Virginia State Medical Assn. is also campaigning for that same Senate seat.

"That's an unusually high number," said Randolph D. Smoak Jr., MD, the American Medical Association's immediate past president and a member of the AMA Political Action Committee board since 1984. "I'm glad to see it occurring." [...]