Doctors' dilemma - huge indemnity debt
Australian doctors are facing a potential huge debt following the announcement by United Medical Protection (UMP) that the cost of unreported incidents is likely to be around $455 million, AMA President, Dr Kerryn Phelps, said today.
UMP provides medical indemnity insurance to around 70 per cent of Australia's doctors, the cost of which flows on to patients.
Dr Phelps said the $455 million comes on top of $549 million of recognised claims already included in UMP's accounts, although these will partially be offset by reinsurance.
"It is vital that UMP remains viable if patients are to be able to seek compensation for medical injury and for medical specialists to continue providing important medical services," Dr Phelps said.
"This is not just a problem for the medical profession, it is a potential crisis that affects the whole community.
"It will require leadership from government at both the state and federal level, in cooperation with the medical profession, to ensure key health services are not compromised or lost to communities," Dr Phelps said.
The current situation is that to cover the already reported claims doctors in the higher risk specialties such as neurosurgery, obstetrics and orthopaedics face medical indemnity premiums of between $100,000 and $250,000 dollars. These are already unaffordable for all doctors.
Following today's news, to also cover the unreported claims would mean total premiums could in theory in future years reach over $1 million per doctor per year for neurosurgeons, and more than $900,000 per doctor per year for obstetricians, which is unthinkable.
"We cannot continue to accumulate debt for future generations of doctors and run the risk of injured patients having no access to compensation.
"The system must be fixed as a matter of urgency.
"A way must be found for the welfare costs for injured patients to be shared more equitably across the community rather than be borne by highly skilled specialists and their patients," Dr Phelps said.
Dr Phelps said this incident should hasten the work being undertaken by the Australian Health Ministers Advisory Council (AHMAC) in investigating the balance between community and doctor responsibility in medical indemnity cases.
CONTACT: John Flannery (02) 6270 5477 / (0419) 494 761