Price of Practice
February 25, 2001
ABOUT THIS SERIES ...
THE PRICE OF PRACTICE W.VA.'S MEDICAL MALPRACTICE DEBATE
Advertiser

 

The West Virginia Medical Association and other Mountain State

 

doctors are complaining that increased numbers of medical

 

malpractice lawsuits and higher malpractice insurance

 

premiums are creating a health-care crisis in the state.

 

 

To examine these allegations, the Sunday-Gazette Mail reviewed

 

thousands of pages of malpractice reports filed with the state

 

Board of Medicine.

 

 

About 3,000 of these reports, filed between Jan. 1, 1993, and Dec. 31,

 

2000, were entered into a computer database. The medical board provided

 

paper copies of the reports in nine, 3-inch-thick binders.

 

 

The analysis in this series was based on a smaller set of those

 

reports.

 

 

This series did not consider 836 reports from cases that were resolved

In the area
  • Whats is the most effective way to buy and sell locally?
  • Are you looking for a new job? Let us help.
  • There are more homes for sale or rent than you might think
  • A reliable car is not a far off as you might think.
    • The Gazette now offers Facebook Comments on its stories. You must be logged into your Facebook account to add comments. If you do not want your comment to post to your personal page, uncheck the box below the comment. Comments deemed offensive by the moderators will be removed, and commenters who persist may be banned from commenting on the site.
    Advertisement - Your ad here
    Doctors inWest Virginia say a "medical malpractice crisis" threatens the state's doctors. Rising insurance rates are driving them to retire early, limit their practices and even leave the state, they contend. Doctors insurers blame the "frequency and severity" of mostly "meritless" lawsuits filed against doctors in the Mountain State. Lawyers say patients deserve compensation when negligent doctors harm them. Who really pays the high price of medical malpractice? This three-day investigative series digs beneath the rhetoric to examine the malpractice climate in West Virginia. Are doctors fleeing the state? Why have insurance rates increased? Are lawsuits to blame? Get some answers from this series.
    Advertisement - Your ad here
    More Price of Practice
  • CLAIMS ALLEGE HOST OF DOCTOR ERRORS
  • LAWYERS BASH SUIT SCREENING PROGRAM
  • INSURANCE RATES UP DRAMATICALLY
  • MEDICAL ASSOC., INSURANCE FIRM MAKE SECRET DEAL
  • MALPRACTICE CLAIMS HAVE DECREASED
    • Advertisement - Your ad here
    Inside wvgazette.com