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“As nurse-midwives, we are the small, well-established,
women-owned businesses that, because of skyrocketing professional
liability premiums, are now struggling to pay our bills and (we
are) the employees who get laid off because our benefits cost too
much in the wake of these rising premiums. We, and the women we
care for, many of whom are low income and who are already struggling
for access to care, are victims of the current professional liability
system.” said Williams.
Unfortunately, the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Access
to Care Act (S. 2061), introduced by Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Sen. John
Ensign (R-NV), fell 12 votes short of the 60 required to end a
Democratic led filibuster and bring the bill up for debate, despite
fiery statements from Senators Gregg and Ensign.
“We must get this medical liability crisis under control
so that our trauma centers are not closing, so that women have
access to their OBs, gynecologists, and nurse-midwives, who are
also covered under this bill…they are a very important part
of our health care delivery system in this country and delivering
healthy babies,” said Senator Ensign.
“Newsweek…ran a very good piece on ‘Lawsuit
Hell How Fear of Litigation is Paralyzing Our Professionals.’ Right
in the middle is a doctor. It could be a midwife. Remember, midwives
are as much affected by this as doctors. But essentially it is
those people you see when you most need them, and especially if
you are a woman and you want to have children,” said Senator
Gregg.
While professional liability reform regarding obstetrics is probably
shelved for this legislative session, Republican lawmakers now
say that they intend to introduce two separate bills this year
involving emergency room providers and providers in rural or underserved
areas. Both Executive Director Williams and Lubic argued for relief
in these areas during their statements to the press.
“…our country’s worst maternal and infant outcomes
are right here in the shadow of this very Capitol building….our
powerful country displays critical weakness in standing 26th in
a roster of the world’s developed nations in infant survival
and until we address the outcomes in our inner cities and poor
rural areas, that record will stand, and perhaps worsen, as services
such as ours…are threatened by the cost of professional liability
insurance,” said Lubic.
“When a rural community loses its doctor, often they will
also lose their midwife. When a doctor-midwife partnership loses
a midwife, the doctor is no longer able to focus her or his expertise
on the complicated obstetrical cases that need a doctor’s
undivided attention. Women get less care and fewer choices. We
all lose!” said Williams.
Professional liability reform legislation is currently pending
in several states including Georgia, Connecticut, Montana, Washington,
and Wyoming. However, Federal legislation dealing specifically
with obstetrics will probably not be re-introduced into the US
Senate until 2005.
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