Profession
Liability crisis drives out Pa. medical residents
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 12, 2005
A recent study shows many medical residents in Pennsylvania are leaving the state when their training is finished, due to the high cost of medical liability insurance.
The survey of medical residents and program directors in high-risk specialties showed that one-third of residents in their final years of training planned to leave the state because of medical liability insurance costs. Some 71% of residency program directors reported a decrease in retention of residents coinciding with rising insurance costs.
The survey of residents and program directors in anesthesiology, general surgery, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, and radiology was conducted in 2003, with 68 program directors and 360 residents participating.
From 2000 to 2003, ob-gyns reported their annual premiums rose from $69,000 to $134,000. The survey was published in the June Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/09/12/prbf0912.htm.