Medical indemnity package will force senior doctors to retire early
AMA President, Dr Kerryn Phelps, said today that the Medical Indemnity (Prudential Supervision and Product Standards) Bill 2002 contains no safeguards for retiring doctors and no mechanisms to deal with very high 'blue sky' claims.
Dr Phelps said the flawed package would force senior doctors - especially surgeons and obstetricians - to retire early from the medical profession.
"Despite constant warnings to the Government about the shortcomings of the legislation, it passed through the Senate today with the support of the ALP and the Democrats," Dr Phelps said.
"This legislation may help secure the Medical Defence Organisations (MDOs) but does little of substance to ease the insecurity and uncertainty being experienced by individual doctors and their patients all around Australia.
"While focussing on issues relating to APRA regulation of the MDO industry, the Government has ignored the key issue at the core of the medical indemnity crisis - equitable and affordable and easy access to vital medical services for all Australians.
"This Bill has not eased the medical indemnity crisis, it has brought it to a head.
"The senior doctors abandoned by this package are the backbone of the medical profession but many will be forced to sadly and reluctantly leave the job they love and the patients in their care.
"The AMA has for months lobbied the Government to amend the Bill to cover the major medical indemnity burden that doctors would be forced to carry into retirement under the proposed changes.
"We have suggested a statutory Death, Disablement and Retirement Fund for doctors, which the Government has agreed to examine, but this Fund is only worth pursuing if the Government commits to funding the so-called 'blue sky' amount that exceeds any capped insurance amount and introduces a long-term care and rehabilitation scheme for severely injured patients.
"Under the Government's package, as it stands, doctors would be personally liable for 'blue sky' amounts awarded for claims over their insurance cap (probably around $15 million) - a personal liability that could run into millions of dollars. Doctors will not be prepared to take that risk.
"The concern for the community is that some of the most experienced and respected specialists in the country may choose early retirement instead of being subject to these new medical indemnity plans.
"We will not only lose doctors with unique skills developed over decades, we will lose some of the best medical teachers of our next generation of skilled specialists.
"This is a disaster that could easily have been averted but wasn't.
"The Government must urgently amend its legislation before the community is hit by an unprecedented medical workforce shortage crisis," Dr Phelps said.
The AMA is organising a mass rally of doctors who wish to protest the uncertainty surrounding medical indemnity and their careers in Sydney on Sunday 6 April - time and venue to be advised.
CONTACT: John Flannery (02) 6270 5477 / (0419) 494 761
Judith Tokley (02) 6270 5471 / (0408) 824 306