Think before "sending a message"

Follow-up on removing bankruptcy protection for the neurosurgeon in Florida. A physician writes about the effects if this was the case:

To expel this physician from practice, as one of his bitter former patients advocates, would leave Palm Beach County with insufficient numbers of neurosurgeons to run its trauma system and take care of all the non-trauma neurosurgical emergencies that get sent to St. Mary’s. Society must make the choice between indemnifying every last patient injured in the system or not having medical care when it is needed urgently.

The implied threat of the article, removing bankruptcy protection from physicians, would exacerbate the situation to an unpredictable degree. Among doctors in training, Florida already has the worst reputation of all the states for being hostile to physicians going into private practice. We have not had one internist going into private practice join the staff of St. Mary’s in more than four years, let alone neurosurgery applicants.

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