Nation watches doctor walkout: Major networks view tactic used to get legal action

DAILY MAIL STAFF

WHEELING - The operating rooms in the Northern Panhandle may bequiet, but the halls of the hospitals here still are buzzing as thenation turns its attention to the region and the walkout its surgeonsare staging.

From Connie Chung to "NBC Nightly News," all the major networksand cable news channels are here to report on the 24 or so surgeonswho are hanging their careers and potentially much more on a boldgambit they hope will make Gov. Bob Wise and the state Legislaturelisten to their concerns about malpractice liability and what onecalled "a tort cesspool."

Producers dressed in black and talking intently into cell phonesprowled the corridors at Wheeling Hospital as the parking spacesusually taken by doctors bound for surgery have been filled bysatellite trucks ready to beam the latest news of the crisis fromcoast to coast.

"You never know who's going to walk through the door today," onenurse said. "But you get the feeling that anything could happen."

While the nation may be looking to West Virginia for insights on agrowing debate on tort reform and medical malpractice, the surgeonshere have a nearer objective.

As the Legislative session is set to begin next week, theprotesting doctors want attention for what they say is a legal systemout of control and a business climate that makes even the mostessential endeavors nearly impossible.

"As I understand it, Bob Wise has come to Wheeling on twooccasions in the last several weeks to have dinner with two prominentplaintiffs' lawyers ... and talk about how to deal with the medicalinsurance crisis," said Dr. Bob Zaleski, an orthopedic surgeon herefor the last 22 years and one of the doctors who have vowed to laydown their tools until the current situation is resolved.

"But until now he hasn't talked to a single surgeon here about it.He wasn't asking the people who know the business and who aredirectly affected. He was asking the lawyers who stand to benefitevery time a doctor is hit. So if any good has come of this, at leastit got Wise to actually get involved."

There is no definite timeframe for the surgical shutdown, thoughmany in the health care community are confident that the walkout willend if Wise makes the subject a top priority in his State of theState address on Wednesday and the Legislature "comes out swinging."

Wise spoke with the leaders of the walkout Thursday and has beeninvolved with ongoing negotiations aimed at getting the surgeons backto work.

Dr. Donald Hofreuter, the CEO of Wheeling Hospital, said that hethinks the situation can be resolved if the state will agree to offerdoctors who do risky trauma work insurance coverage through the Boardof Risk and Insurance Management.

He said that in ongoing discussions with the Wise administrationover the past two weeks the possibility of including Wheeling'ssurgeons in the same kind of program now in place in Charleston,Huntington and Morgantown has been gaining momentum.

In those cities, the umbrella of state protection has beenextended to private physicians, using the West Virginia Universitymedical program as a vehicle.

"I think it at least begs the question of why these other areaswould have access to something like that and we would not," Hofreutersaid. "I think that could be a very fruitful line of inquiry."

The walkout surgeons say they want long-term relief via tortreform and a dose of immediate assistance in the form of reducedmandatory minimum insurance coverage required by the state.

Though none would say how long they would stay away from theoperating table, many suggested that their decision was more one ofwhether to stay or go for good.

Hofreuter, like many in the local medical community, finds himselfon the horns of a dilemma with the walkout. While he sees seriousproblems with the current system and has supported the politicalefforts of his fellow doctors in the last several years to affect achange, he still has a hospital to run.

"I understand their concerns and I understand their frustration,"Hofreuter said. "But I'm also concerned about patient care. We're anon-profit community hospital and my first commitment is to ourpatients."

But Hofreuter and his colleagues at the Ohio Valley MedicalCenter, Weirton Medical Center and Glen Dale's Reynolds MemorialHospital say they are satisfied they have done what they can toprevent the crisis from turning into a calamity.

Severely injured patients can be taken directly by air orambulance to Pittsburgh or Morgantown. Urgent but not trauma-relatedsurgeries still can be scheduled in the small hospitals across theriver in eastern Ohio.

At Wheeling Hospital, one of the state's leading employers, manystaffers have been informed that they may be cut back to partialhours for the duration of the walkout, but that no layoffs areplanned.

Some non-physician doctors quietly have expressed concern aboutwhat could happen if someone dies or is more seriously injuredbecause they have to wait longer for surgery.

"We've been talking this through and trying the political thingfor a long time with very limited results, so I hope this works" saidone doctor on the job Thursday, who asked not to be identified. "Butif something happens, it's all over.

"If there is a loss of life as a result, we won't have a leg tostand on. This is the big gamble."

Zaleski said he and his fellow surgeons had thought those issuesthrough and decided they couldn't wait to act.

"You have to ask yourself if it's better to have no doctors forthe time being or on a permanent basis," Zaleski said. "Should wekeep shrinking and shrinking until we're gone and then just vanish?

"This is my hometown and I made a decision in 1980 to come backand practice here and I want to stay here, so we're not just going todrift away."

Zaleski said he has watched his insurance rates increase 200 foldover the span of his career from $800 a year to his current annualbill of almost $160,000.

"For three years we've been using the political system - givingmoney to candidates, taking time to go to Charleston and there hasbeen no real reform," Zaleski said. "There's been nothing done toshrink the bull's-eye that every doctor wears on the back of theirwhite coat."

Writer Chris Stirewalt can be reached at 348-4824 or by email atcstire@dailymail.com.