News in brief - Jan. 12, 2004

Maryland to get liability coalition - AAMC to rethink physician supply - N.C. medical board suspends physician's license over expert testimony

Maryland to get liability coalition

A former Maryland insurance commissioner is heading up a new coalition to bring about legislative reforms that could help ease the medical liability insurance problems the state is experiencing. More reasonable economic damage awards in medical malpractice cases, more reasonable limits on noneconomic damages, a change in attorney contingency fees and structured settlements to reduce damage awards are among the reforms the newly formed Alliance to Preserve Access plans to call for.

Steven Larsen in December 2003 announced that he would head up the organization, which will be made up of physicians and other health professionals, insurers and business groups.

AAMC to rethink physician supply

The Assn. of American Medical Colleges is creating a new arm to examine physician work force issues. The Center for Workforce Studies at the AAMC will be headed by Edward Salsberg, currently executive director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the School of Public Health, University at Albany, State University of New York.

The AAMC is establishing the center to assess the supply and distribution of physicians in the United States in order to determine the AAMC's agenda and what role it should play in working with medical schools, teaching hospitals and specialty associations on work force-related efforts. The AAMC's current stance is that there is neither a physician surplus nor a shortage.

In September 2003, the federally appointed Council on Graduate Medical Education supported research predicting a shortage of 85,000 physicians by 2020 and saying a 15% increase in medical school enrollment was needed during the next 10 years.

In December 2003, the American Medical Association declared a physician shortage in some specialties and in some geographic areas of the United States.

N.C. medical board suspends physician's license over expert testimony

The North Carolina Medical Board has suspended for one year the medical license of neurosurgeon Gary Lustgarten, MD, whose case brought national attention to the issue of expert witness testimony.

In 1998, Dr. Lustgarten gave testimony as a medical expert in a malpractice suit brought against two doctors in North Carolina who cared for a young man with a brain condition who died. The case was settled, but one of the doctors filed a complaint against Dr. Lustgarten.

The medical board found that Dr. Lustgarten, who practiced in Florida, had engaged in unprofessional conduct by misstating facts and the appropriate standard of care in North Carolina. In July 2002, the board revoked his license. Dr. Lustgarten appealed.

Wake County (N.C.) Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens reversed most of the board's grounds for disciplining Dr. Lustgarten. But he agreed with one of the board's findings, saying Dr. Lustgarten's testimony that a doctor in the case had falsified medical records was not protected opinion, and sent that issue back to the board.

The board on Nov. 21, 2003, conducted a disciplinary hearing on that issue and suspended Dr. Lustgarten's license for one year.