Tuesday, May 07, 2002
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE CRISIS: Pregnant women turned away OB/GYNs say they cannot afford to take on new cases
By JOELLE BABULA
Las Vegas Review-Journal
http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/May-07-Tue-2002/news/18690745.html
"Las Vegas obstetricians are turning away newly pregnant women, including existing patients who become pregnant, because they say they cannot afford to deliver more babies.
The doctors are trying to reduce their number of annual deliveries to keep their already skyrocketing medical malpractice rates from jumping any higher.
Most of the 93 doctors who deliver babies in Clark County began turning women away Monday, said Dr. John Nowins, president of the Clark County OB/GYN Society. An exact number wasn't available late Monday.
"The insurance companies are scared to death of us delivering babies, and now we're scared to death of delivering babies," Nowins said. "I'm telling patients that to make my malpractice insurance even remotely affordable, I have to severely restrict my OB practice."
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