It doesn't take a major survey to prove to me we're on the verge of a serious physician shortage in Pennsylvania. I see it everyday as my colleagues and I put in more overtime, and it takes longer and longer to recruit new surgeons. It took us almost a decade to find one foot and ankle surgeon for our practice and we don't have the challenges of recruitment others face in rural areas.
Welcome to our new and improved website. 3PSC, or Pennsylvania Physicians for the Protection of Specialty Care, is a non-profit association uniting high risk specialty surgeons and their patients to achieve one voice with collective goals. We have grown since our inception in 2004 and now represent over 3000 physicians and patients across the state. If you click around our website, you'll see we now have more ways than ever to help make a difference with Pennsylvania health care.
Professional liability is the biggest issue confronting ob/gyns, as documented by a recent survey published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.1 A significant contributor to the current crisis is the often inconsistent and unsubstantiated testimony of a small group of "professional" plaintiff experts. Because of this concern, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has developed a very structured and well-thought-out grievance process that is designed to sanction Fellows who provide unethical/unsupported testimony in medical liability cases. Under ACOG's Code of Professional Ethics, a Fellow can be issued a warning, censured, suspended, or expelled from the College for such behavior.
This is ACOG's major non-legislative initiative in the area of medical liability. Unfortunately, the process has been underutilized, and in my opinion, its effectiveness is unproven. I base this on the following personal experience.