Patients save doctor once, but liability costs win in end

The Ohio oncologist declined another fund-raiser, bowing under the high cost of insurance.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Aug. 11, 2003.

One year after the patients of Romeo Diaz, MD, raised enough money to help pay his medical liability bill and stave off his retirement, Dr. Diaz has decided to call it quits.

The Westlake, Ohio, surgical oncologist planned to retire in August 2002 after his medical liability insurance bill jumped from $46,000 to $83,000. But when patients learned of his intention, they raised more than $40,000 to cover the increase and Dr. Diaz paid the rest.

This year, Dr. Diaz's insurer, Professionals Advocate Insurance Co., left Ohio, forcing him to find a new carrier. Other insurers wanted him to agree to a five-year contract for coverage, but he wasn't sure he wanted to practice for five more years.

So, he told patients not to repeat their fund-raising effort. Instead, he decided to retire.

"Why should I keep going on working for the insurance company?" said Dr. Diaz, 61, whose last day was scheduled for Aug. 7. "I'm sure the insurance will keep rising. I can hardly afford it now."

His patients didn't take the news well.

"They've been crying. One lady was saying, 'If I cry longer, will you stay?' I said, 'I don't think so,' " said Dr. Diaz, who practiced for 27 years.

Patient Kathy Fritsch, of Vermilion, Ohio, said more doctors and patients will face similar fates unless lawmakers do more to resolve the medical liability crisis. "It's not fair that [doctors] be penalized because an insurer pulled out," she said. "I don't want our doctors to leave because they're afraid of a five-year contract."