Profession
ACOG Red Alert list adds 3 states
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 20, 2004
Another three states are on the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' Red Alert list, which is composed of states in which medical liability insurance problems threaten women's access to physicians delivering babies.
ACOG added Wyoming, Arizona and Maryland to the list Aug. 26, bringing the total of Red Alert states to 22 plus the District of Columbia.
"It's truly alarming that this access to health care crisis has become so profound and widespread," ACOG President Vivian M. Dickerson, MD, said in a statement.
ACOG identifies the District of Columbia and 14 states as being the most at risk: Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming. ACOG says a crisis is brewing in Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri and Utah.
Despite tort reform, Mississippi, Texas and West Virginia continue on the Red Alert list because ACOG is still monitoring the outcome of state law changes.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2004/09/20/prbf0920.htm.
