News in brief - Feb. 17, 2003

Nevada still has medical liability problems - California Physician Corps opens for applicants - Proposed law could limit prisoners' access to donated organs

Nevada still has medical liability problems

About 28% of the 170 physicians who recently responded to a Nevada State Medical Assn. survey said they had closed their practice on a temporary or permanent basis in 2002 because of soaring medical liability insurance costs.

Of those 48 physicians:

10 ob-gyns reported that they had closed the obstetrics portion of their practice to reduce their risks and lower insurance costs.
19 physicians reported that they had closed their practice or retired because of liability insurance rates.
10 physicians said they were in the process of closing their practice because of insurance costs.

More than half of those surveyed, or 86 doctors, said they were "seriously considering" closing their practice.

California Physician Corps opens for applicants

The California Medical Assn. is accepting applicants for the California Physician Corps, a loan repayment program that allows physicians to receive up to $105,000 to repay medical school loans in exchange for a three-year commitment to work in a medically underserved area.

The CMA has committed $3 million over the next three years to fund 28 primary care physicians in the corps, though other specialties will be considered. Applications, which are due April 11, are available at the organization's Web site (http://www.calphys.org/html/bb104.asp) or via e-mail (mailto:mdloan@medbd.ca.gov).

Proposed law could limit prisoners' access to donated organs

A California state lawmaker whose father died while waiting for a liver transplant is sponsoring a bill that would give Californians the option of designating if their donated organs can be given to patients being held in prison, the Contra Costa Times reported.

State Sen. Jeff Denham told the paper, "Donors want to know that their organs are going to save a sick child or productive member of our community" and that people have become less willing to donate because of fear that convicts may get their organs.

The California Transplant Donor Network has spoken out against the bill, noting that decisions on organ transplants should be based solely on medical and scientific criteria.

Controversy resulted after an unidentified prisoner received a donated heart and about $2 million in state-funded health care before dying on Dec. 16, 2002, at Stanford University Medical Center.