PROFESSIONKnow bylaws that protect medical staffIn the Courts. By Tanya Albert, amednews staff. July 11, 2005. Are you one of those physicians who think being actively engaged in the hospital medical staff isn't important? "Someone else will read through those sometimes lengthy documents and make sure I'm protected," you may think. "And really, how much do they really matter?" you may ask. After all, you've got patients to tend to. Well, think again. A recent court case -- one of a growing number of medical staff bylaw suits that pit medical staffs against hospital boards -- illustrates how crucial it can be to know exactly what is going on with those seemingly tedious medical staff issues. It also shows how important it can be to be involved with the nitty-gritty details of the medical staff bylaws. The case, Fabrizio v. Provena United Samaritans Medical Center, is winding its way through the court system in Illinois, one of the 20 states the American Medical Association says is suffering from a medical liability insurance crisis. That's significant, because the issue in this case is whether the 100 doctors on staff at Provena United Samaritans Medical Center in Danville, Ill., must carry medical liability insurance with limits of $200,000 per incident and $600,000 aggregate annually or $1 million per incident and $3 million annually. For a handful of doctors on staff at the hospital, the answer to that question means the difference between being able to afford insurance and continuing to practice or having to retire early or move to another state. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2005 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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