Interview Dr Bill Glasson, AMA President, ABC Radio 'The World Today' - AMA says medical indemnity crisis far from over

COMPERE: On domestic issues now, and the crisis over medical indemnity cover appears far from resolved, with many medical groups and specialists claiming that their professional lives will be made harder under the Federal Government's new arrangements, which begin today.

The Government's been able to help bail out the profession after the collapse last year of the country's largest medical insurer, United Medical Protection.

But despite new measures now in place, designed to provide more security for specialists like obstetricians and gynaecologists, Australia's peak medical group is predicting a mass exodus of specialists, as well as hefty fee hikes for patients across the nation.

Jo Mazzocchi reports.

MAZZOCCHI: The AMA says Australia's medical system is like a three-legged dog: it's progress has been slow and uncertain and it could fall over at any time.

AMA President, Dr Bill Glasson.

BILL GLASSON: And the missing leg, essentially, is that of affordability, and in the medium-term to long-term it will be workforce.

Where do we go? We have to sit down and maturely look at the system that we're looking at, which I don't think is affordable in the long-term, and come up with a scheme that ensures that patients' rights are protected, but more importantly that community rights, in their ability to access doctors is also preserved.

MAZZOCCHI: And that's at the heart of the crisis now facing medical specialists in this country.

How can they continue to meet the needs of their patients, when they can't afford to meet soaring insurance premiums?

After the collapse last year of the country's largest medial insurer, UMP, the Federal Government effectively rescued many high-risk areas of the profession from collapsing altogether. That new regime begins today, but for many specialists, such as Dr Stephen Holmes, who's an obstetrician in Clare in South Australia, it's come too late. He's already quit, as of midnight last night.

STEPHEN HOLMES: There's a deep pride in actually delivering babies and watching them grow up around you, and that ended for me at midnight last night, mainly because of indemnity, the fact that I've delivered nearly 600 babies in the last nearly 17 years has brought me a great sense of joy and satisfaction, but every year for the last seven years the rules have changed.

MAZZOCCHI: Dr Holmes says he simply can't afford to pay the soaring premiums that are now required.

STEPHEN HOLMES: It's different to house insurance, you know, when the house burns down you can lodge a claim at that time, but they're actually putting us into an insurance policy because of a Federal law change, we actually have to buy insurance now, but the trouble is we have to buy insurance for each year. So for next year I have to buy insurance for what may have happened this year as well, and for the following year after I have to buy insurance for what happened in 2003 and 2004.

So each year you accumulate risk, because babies take a while to report damage and it may not indeed be apparent for 10, 20 years, so we actually have to stay covered for insurance policies for 20 years after we retire.

JO MAZZHOCCHI: And the AMA claims 20 per cent of the nation's obstetricians, neurologists and procedural GPs will also decide to follow suit.

Dr Glasson again.

BILL GLASSON: The New South Wales obstetricians who were insured, for instance, outside of New South Wales, their premiums have gone from roughly $100,000 to up to $140,000 per year, and I'd like to remind people that who pays that $140,000, it's you and I, the patients, who actually access the services of those doctors.

MAZZOCCHI: And while the Federal Government has responsibility for overall insurance premium arrangements, the issue is further complicated, because each state and territory is responsible for tort law reform. And that means there's no uniformity for doctors or patients, and Dr Holmes admits it's that kind of confusion that's led him to end nearly 20 years of delivering babies.

STEPHEN HOLMES: This is the most difficult decision of my medical career, and I made it not lightly. The real risk to me and to my family is that I or my family could be actually sued for 20 years, in 20 years time, for an event that happens now, and I can't actually work on a claims-reported basis, it has to be a claims incurred for me personally.

COMPERE: Dr Stephen Holmes, a former obstetrician, who has, as of today, ended his practice in Clare in South Australia. He was speaking to Jo Mazzocchi.

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