News in brief - March 8, 2004

N.J. aims to lower liability rates - Nursing to see largest job growth, labor bureau says - Alaska governor makes medical board appointments - Florida Legislature once again confronting life-and-death issues

N.J. aims to lower liability rates

New Jersey physicians are asking the state Board of Medical Examiners to lower the minimum amount of insurance they are required to carry. At an informal hearing in February, the Medical Society of New Jersey testified that reducing the minimum levels would immediately cut high premiums in the state.

In June 2003, MSNJ petitioned the board to reduce the minimum level of medical liability insurance to $300,000 per occurrence and $900,000 aggregate annually. Currently, physicians must carry $1 million per occurrence and $3 million aggregate annually.

"Physicians who are state employees working at hospitals already enjoy a liability limit of $300,000," said MSNJ President Mark T. Olesnicky, MD. "Under auto insurance, $300,000 is the minimum liability limit a person can obtain and still have the ability to purchase a higher umbrella policy up to $500,000. Is it fair to say that identical injuries are worth quantum more under medical liability than they are under auto insurance?"

New Jersey is one of 19 states that the AMA lists as experiencing a medical liability crisis that has physicians leaving the state, reducing services or retiring early because they cannot find or afford insurance.

Nursing to see largest job growth, labor bureau says

For the first time in recent years, the nursing profession is expected to see the most job growth of all occupations, said the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Registered nurse ranked No. 1 on the bureau's list of jobs that will see the biggest gains in new positions. The bureau estimates the number of registered nurses will increase 623,000 to 2.9 million in 2012, up from 2.3 million in 2002.

Leaders in the nursing community said continued investment in education as well as the recruitment and training of nurses was needed to meet anticipated growth. Of the 2.9 million jobs anticipated in 2012, 477,000 will be positions left vacant by retiring nurses and 623,000 will be new positions.

"Given the aging of the U.S. population and the increased demand for nursing care, it's not surprising that the growth in RN jobs is skyrocketing," said Barbara Blakeney, APRN, ANP, president of the American Nurses Assn.

The ANA is call for $205 million in Title VIII funds for nursing work force development, compared with the $147 million President Bush earmarked for nursing in the proposed 2005 budget.

Alaska governor makes medical board appointments

Alaska Gov. Frank H. Murkowski has made one new appointment and four reappointments to the Alaska State Medical Board.

John T. Duddy, MD, of Anchorage, was appointed to the eight-member board. He has been practicing since 1993, and is an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in sports medicine and spinal surgery. Dr. Duddy received a biology degree from Ohio State University and a medical degree from the Ohio State College of Medicine.

Reappointed to the board were Robert Breffeilh, MD, of Juneau; G. Bert Flaming, MD, of Glennallen; David Head, MD, of Nome; and civil engineer Michael Tauriainen.

Dr. Breffeilh practices ophthalmology and is a member of the Bartlett Hospital Board and Foundation. Dr. Flaming, a general practice physician, is medical director of the Cross Road Medical Center and one of only two physicians in Glennallen. Dr. Head, a family physician, is medical director of the Norton Sound Regional Hospital.

Florida Legislature once again confronting life-and-death issues

Despite pressure from the state's right-to-life movement, Florida state Senate President Jim King has vowed that a bill known as the "Starvation and Dehydration of Persons with Disabilities Prevention Act" will never get a hearing.

Inspired by the Terri Schiavo controversy, the bill would keep incapacitated people alive despite their family's wishes if there were no advance directives available directing health care professionals to do otherwise, the Gainesville Sun reported.

King, who considers the state's "right-to-die" laws, which allow dying patients to refuse further medical treatment, to be his legacy, told the Tampa Tribune that he doesn't "want anything on the floor in that Senate that is going to give platforms to people who want to roll back the hands of time."