Fed: Baby delivery crisis looming, say doctors
By Nadine Rofail
BRISBANE, April 20 AAP - A baby delivery crisis is looming in Australia, with manyobstetricians being forced to leave the specialty or consider only caesarean procedures,doctors said today.
Brisbane gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr David Molloy said rising indemnity insurancecosts were forcing many doctors to stop delivering babies.
"Five years ago I was paying $6000 (for insurance), today I'm paying $45,000," Dr Molloy said.
"Private sector obstetrics is only going to be affordable to the very wealthy."
Dr Molloy, who has helped the Australian Medical Association Queensland draft a planto cut indemnity costs, said obstetricians might soon choose to deliver babies only bycaesarean because there was less risk of being sued.
"If you have done a timely caesarean section you would be unlucky to be sued," he said.
"If you ... try and achieve a natural delivery and it goes wrong then you are likelyto end up in court being sued for big dollars."
Dr Molloy cited the court case in New South Wales of a $14 million damages payout fora baby born in 1979 with cerebral palsy as an example of reasons why medical graduateswere choosing less risky specialties.
"Women should be outraged the specialty that cares for themselves and the childrenthey are going to have is having trouble getting people to fill the training posts," hesaid.
"Obstetrics is becoming a second-choice specialty - young doctors, honest good graduatesare not going into obstetrics."
AMA president Dr Kerryn Phelps said rather than put themselves at risk of litigation,obstetricians would rather opt out of the high-risk specialty.
"What they're saying is I'll just do the gynaecology part, which is not going to costme as much," he said.
"Less than a quarter of currently practicing obstetricians will still be practisingin 10 years time. That's the nature of this current crisis."
AAP nr/wjf/sb
KEYWORD: BABIES
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