More bad news from CMPA CMAJ 1997;157:1501 © 1997 Canadian Medical Association The Canadian Medical Protective Association says massive financial awards affecting a few high-risk specialties are placing the affordability of medicolegal protection in doubt. The statement follows the Oct. 30 announcement that Canadian obstetricians face a 24.5% increase in their 1998 CMPA dues, which will now cost $29 280. Overall, physicians face an average increase of 11.5%. In a strikingly blunt statement, CMPA President Bill Thomas, a CMA past president, said obstetrics is the key problem area. "It is not more people suing doctors, or more cases being lost -- those numbers have stayed fairly constant through the 1990s. It is the higher awards that must be paid on the same relatively small number of cases. The amount we must now set aside to meet our potential liability in these types of cases is beginning to overwhelm the whole system of legal protection. . . . A framework of laws that has been overtaken by events and needs reform threatens us all." The CMPA now sets aside $600 million to cover potential liability resulting from unresolved cases involving babies severely injured at birth who now require life-long support and care. This amounts to almost half of the association's total reserves of $1.3 billion, which must cover all potential claims. Awards involving babies have increased from an average of $1 million in 1989 to more than $2 million in 1996. The CMPA says it is responding to the current crisis by joining with the CMA and its provincial divisions to form a joint working group that will refine specific proposals for tort reform. The association also offered one breath of good news -- 58% of members face fee increases of only 2%. Send a letter to the editor responding to this article Envoyez une lettre à la rédaction au sujet de cet article | CMAJ December 1, 1997 (vol 157, no 11) / JAMC le 1er décembre 1997 (vol 157, no 11) |