Malpractice lawsuit fears close clinic doors
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, July 17, 2002
The Rev. Tommy Miller stands in the empty examining room of the Good Shepherd Community Center clinic Tuesday.(The Vicksburg Post/Melanie Duncan)
[07/17/02]A much-praised free medical clinic in Vicksburg is closed today as its exposure to medical malpractice suits is reviewed.
The Good Shepherd Community Center clinic, at which retired or nearly retired physicians treat people without health insurance or other means to pay, was shut down Tuesday morning.
The reason cited by one of the center’s three volunteer doctors was advice that a state law, passed in part to aid the center’s operation, does not really provide immunity. Without the statutory shield, insurance would cost $138,000 far more than the clinic could afford, Good Shepherd’s director said.
The board of directors of Good Shepherd Monday night heard a report from Dr. John C. Williams, its medical director and a volunteer.
“His attorney told him the law does not apply to our clinic any more,” said the Rev. Tommy Miller, director of Good Shepherd.
Miller said the board was told the three physicians Williams, Dr. James Guerriero and Dr. Frank McPherson would have to pay a total of $138,000 for malpractice insurance if they were to continue to operate the clinic.
Williams said his reason for warning the Good Shepherd board was a state law that provides immunity for physicians at free clinics does not apply to any medications they might dispense.
“There’s no way around that,” he said, adding that even if the center’s budget could be stretched to pay for malpractice insurance, it is not available.
“There’s no company in the state to write the insurance,” Williams said.
“It was a very hard decision to make and a decision we did not want to make,” Miller said.
He said Briggs Hopson III, an attorney and chairman of the center’s board of directors, is researching the law, Sec. 73-25-38 of the Mississippi Code, which was passed in 1993 to grant immunity to physicians and certified nurse practitioners who provide medical care in a clinic setting without charging or expecting any fee.
“My personal feeling is I wish the law were stronger,” he said, but he believes it does shield Good Shepherd.
Miller said an opinion from Attorney General Mike Moore’s office may be sought.
Miller and Hopson said the clinic could reopen if the physicians’ liability issue is resolved.
“I hope we may be open again by the end of this week,” Hopson said.
Board member James Stirgus Sr. said he also believes the law shields the clinic, which has been in operation for seven years.
Stirgus said he planned to contact Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck to get her opinion on the matter.
Mississippi has seen an active debate of similar issues with doctors on one side saying the state needs to reform its tort laws to help lower malpractice insurance costs and trial lawyers saying there is nothing wrong with the system and rising costs are from bad investments by insurance companies.
House Speaker Tim Ford and Tuck appointed a 26-member joint House and Senate committee to hold hearings and come up with proposals to be presented to the Legislature. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove has also said he intends to call a special session of the Legislature to deal with tort reform in August.
At least one member of the committee, Rep. Chester Masterson, R-Vicksburg and a retired physician, said he does not believe the committee will be far enough along in its work to have proposed legislation ready in time for a special session.
“This affects everyone, not just the doctors,” said Stan Kline, a Good Shepherd board member, of the tort reform controversy and rising medical malpractice insurance costs. “It affects the little people.”
Miller said the clinic provided free medical service to 2,800 people in 2001 and has even been paying for some diagnostic tests and X-rays, which it does not provide, billed to the clinic instead of the patient.
“These are people who don’t have insurance, they may work but they don’t have any benefits,” he said, adding Good Shepherd’s patients don’t have Medicaid or Medicare.
First Baptist Clinic Ministries and the Tri County Health Group are continuing to function.
First Baptist’s free clinic operates only one evening a month, and Tri County uses a sliding scale of fees with a minimum fee for people not on Medicare or Medicaid of $10, $3 for people with Medicaid and $8.20 for people with Medicare.
Dr. Daniel Edney, medical director of the First Baptist clinic, called Good Shepherd’s closing “a shame.”
“It’s just a travesty that any ministry trying to provide health care is having to face this sort of crisis,” said the internist who practices at The Street Clinic.
He said he expects Good Shepherd’s closing to stress the resources of the First Baptist clinic. The clinic averages seeing 25 to 30 patients a month or about 350 a year.
“It won’t impact our staying open, but it will make it much more difficult for us to do what we do,” he said.
He declined to say what sort of insurance the church clinic carries, but he feels confident it is adequate.
He said the organizers of his clinic “struggled” with the issue of liability and malpractice before opening the clinic but felt it had been resolved.
He said the church’s clinic depends on the immunity provided through the state law.