Ill. Doctors to Protest Med-Mal Premiums

Illinois physicians are planning a one-day strike on Wednesday in Springfield to protest skyrocketing malpractice premiums and the litigation costs they say are the cause for them, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Dozens of Chicago-area doctors will be re-scheduling appointments and surgeries to attend the protest, but the Illinois State Medical Society does not support the idea.

Malpractice insurance runs as much as $110,000 for ob/gyns, $32,000 a year for internists and $76,000 a year for general surgeons. Rates went up by about 20 to 25 percent on average last year. Neurosurgeons, meanwhile, must pay as much as $180,000 a year in malpractice insurance.

The Chicago Medical Society has already announced plans to hold a mass demonstration in downtown in May.

The American Medical Association classifies Illinois where the price of malpractice premiums is a “looming crisis.”