Gracie Briscoe, left, wheels her mother Claretha Hood, center, from an examining room after their appointment with nurse practicioner Gail Dunn, right, Friday at the Delta Care Rural Health Center in Rolling Fork. Friday will be the last day the clinic will be open to see patients. It’s closing because its medical malpractice insurance is expiring and won’t be renewed.(C. TODD SHERMANThe Vicksburg Post)

ROLLING FORK The Delta Care Rural Heath Clinic, whose only physician will lose his medical malpractice insurance a week from today, will close its doors Friday, leaving hundreds of Sharkey and Issaquena county residents struggling to receive medical care.

“We’ve notified our patients that we will be closing at least temporarily,” said Dr. Andrew George, the clinic’s physician. “We’re hoping in the next week, things will change drastically, but we just don’t know.”

Reciprocal of America, the parent company of Doctors Insurance Reciprocal which went out of business, say they will not renew George’s medical malpractice policy when it expires Feb. 15.

“This is where I go all the time,” said Leslie Fleming, who with her daughter Mikeria Watson, receives medical care at the clinic. “I have no idea where we’ll go now.”

Jean Sandifer, the receptionist for the clinic, said patients have been devastated since the clinic announced the closure.

“A lady came in this morning in tears,” Sandifer said. “She said, Who else will take me?'”

The Sharkey-Issaquena Community Hospital also stands to lose its insurance on Feb. 24. Jerry Keever, hospital administrator declined to comment about whether the hospital will close.

“If the hospital closes, it will have a drastic effect on the area,” George said. “It is the only hospital within a 40-mile radius.”

Delta Care is one of two doctors’ offices in Rolling Fork which serves the 6,580 residents in Sharkey County and the 2,274 residents in Issaquena County.

Dr. Dan Jackson, the town’s other physician, said though his policies are not expiring, his insurance premium increased 45 percent this year. His office is currently seeing about 200 to 300 patients a week and he said he will try to take as many additional patients as he can.

“I just can’t see leaving that many people without any coverage whatsoever,” Jackson said.

Judy Sanders, office manager for the clinic, has been trying to find another insurance company for the clinic, but has yet to receive any quotes in writing.

“We’ve heard it could be as much as three times what we’re paying now and then we’ve heard it could just be a little more,” Sanders said. “If it is three times as much, we’ll have to figure out if we can afford that.”

George currently pays about $11,000 a year for medical malpractice insurance.

The state Senate passed a bill this week that will limit damage awards for pain and suffering in civil lawsuits to $250,000, after an extended special session last fall where lawmakers limited damages to $500,000, following complaints from doctors across the state that jury awards were excessive.

“I’m glad to see they’re finally doing something to help,” she said. “But at this late date, I don’t think anything they can come up with will help us. It’s too late.”

Sen. Mike Chaney, R-Vicksburg, said he is aware of and understands the problem of doctors and medical professionals in the state.

“This is a grave concern of mine,” he said. “I will do everything in my power to prevent this crisis from happening.”

He said he has committed to Sanders to help find temporary insurance.

The clinic sees about 500 to 600 patients a month and employs George, Sanders, Sandifer, two nurse practitioners and two nurses.

“I’ve had some job offers in Greenville,” said receptionist Jean Sandifer, who’s worked at the clinic nearly since it opened in 1993. “I just don’t want to have to make that move, this is home.”

Delta Care is funded by the Cary Christian Center, a medical ministry that began in 1972.