Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Recently, another physician left Pinellas County and the state of Florida. He had practiced obstetrics and gynecology in Palm Harbor for 20 years, serving hospitals in Clearwater, Dunedin and Tarpon Springs. He was board-certified in his field, was educated in an American medical school and did his residency at Shands at the University of Florida at Gainesville.
Over the years, his practice built to thousands of patients, including the many deliveries of babies, and he recently found that he was delivering the babies of those original babies and also treating the grandmothers of the new generation for their gynecological problems. He was well respected by his medical peers.
The reasons for his departure were basically twofold. This year's liability insurance premium was going to be at least $100,000 for the minimum coverage of $250,000 - not nearly enough protection for him both professionally and personally, but also out of the realm of reasonableness.
Also, due to the decreasing rates of Medicare reimbursements and, as a result, the decreasing reimbursement of all the other HMOs and insurance plans that base their fees on that Medicare fee schedule, he fought an uphill battle to keep his office staff paid and meet other expensive overhead costs. Eventually, when months went by without him taking a salary, it became apparent that he could no longer afford to continue to practice medicine in Florida.
Of course, the other issue is the increasing number of lawsuits that doctors face on an almost daily basis. No one would argue that there are not physicians who are incompetent and negligent.
However, most intelligent people would have to agree that doctors do not graduate from medical school, become board certified and have a large patient population if they are not skilled at what they do. The case must be made that frivolous lawsuits must stop and that lawyers cannot continue to make money off clients who are looking to get a payout at the expense of a physician's life.
The physician to whom this letter refers was active in the Pinellas County Medical Society, the Florida Medical Association and the American Medical Association. He regularly attended political discussions about the crisis in medicine and not only contributed to the campaigns of politicians who tried to help doctors and patients with their concerns, but took a day off each year to go to Tallahassee and lobby legislators to try to get them to understand the problems that were occurring. Although there may have been many frustrations along the way, he never felt that he was too busy and should let someone else do the work of changing the system.
Now that this physician has left our area to relocate to another state where liability insurance is one-fifth the rate for the proper amount of coverage, the reimbursement rates are better and the insurance industry does not rule the community by imposing impossible rates to run a practice, he leaves behind this message to Floridians and the country: Please contact your legislators and tell them that your doctors are leaving. He is not the first, there have been others before him and there will continue to be others after him. We cannot have our doctors abandoning us because they cannot afford to meet the expenses of their practices. Who will you go to if your doctor leaves, too?
This author wishes him well. His two sons in college wish him well. His daughter, who remain in Palm Harbor until his junior in high school graduates in 2005, wish him well. They, and especially this author, who is his wife of 29 years, will miss him.
Lorre Gifford's Nov. 2 Neighborhood Times guest column (If you pay less, don't expect the best) hit the nail on the head! It is time that all teachers take a stand and quit allowing society to take advantage of the skills and wisdom of the professionals that we entrust our children to daily, and ultimately the very future of this country, and demand the respect and compensation that all teachers deserve!
The education of the voting public is critical to ensure the future of education. It is time that education was more than a political forum that enables elected officials to "look good" and "sound good" but ultimately produces nothing except increased responsibilities for the educators who are already poorly compensated. The base salary of the superintendent's secretary, with no particular educational requirement, is much higher than for a master's prepared teacher! What is wrong with this picture?
If education continues to lose quality educators, such as Ms. Gifford, and it will, we all lose. Wake up! The teachers are finally at a breaking point and they need our support!
Re: Holiday display to grace park, Nov. 12.
Am I missing something? Mary Jane Park quotes Leah Hoffman of Pinellas County Parks as saying "... there will be no religious themes ..." in the Lake Seminole Park display. Is not this whole holiday a religious one?
Re: Divine vittles, Oct. 29.
Kudos to the Dandridge family for their generosity in helping those in need for so many years.
However I find the words "vittles," "free grub," and the reference to Mrs. Dandridge as "Ma Kettle" offensive. Who uses these words in 2003?
Obviously whoever wrote the headline and the captions for this article has been watching way too much of The Beverly Hillbillies. Someone give this person a thesaurus!
Re: Colorful fish will mark route along Gulf Boulevard, story, Oct. 26.
What a unique idea for the fish mile markers on Gulf Boulevard from Clearwater to Pass-a-Grille. Having met Jay Goulde, I know he's a very enterprising young man with many good ideas for our city. So happy he hooked up with local artist Silas Beach for this beach project. Runners and walkers alike will enjoy knowing how far they have gone and how far they still have to go, as they tour our beautiful beaches. Thanks for the article.
On Oct. 30, my father, a resident of Gulfport for more than 50 years, died at home in the house he built. My mother and I were at his bedside when he died. But we were not alone. For the previous week, nurses, social workers, chaplains - let's just call them angels - from the Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, made my father's last wishes come true - to die at home.
I want to thank Darlene, Sharon, Sheila, Donna, Janet, Susan, Mary, Chip and especially Carolyn for their kindness, support and care for all three of us. All of you are very special people and I feel blessed that you shared that last week with my father, mother and me.