Advocates, doctors and local politicians gathered at City Hall last Wednesday to call on Gov. David Paterson and state lawmakers to fix the impending problem before it develops into a citywide health crisis.
   Many of the doctors estimated that finding new insurers could raise their rates from nearly $170,000 to $240,000 annually.
   “The current medical malpractice insurance system — which is regulated by our government — is driving doctors out of New York, and the first doctors to go are the ones who provide women’s health care,” Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) said. “If we continue in this direction who will care for pregnant women? Who will deliver babies in New York?”
   According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 99 ob-gyns changed coverage to gyn-only in New York City between 2002 and 2008. During the same time, an additional 160 ob-gyns switched to uncomplicated obstetrics. Another 36 ob-gyns were not renewed for coverage.
   Many city hospitals — crunched by rising insurance rates — have been forced to close obstetric departments alltogether. Fourteen shuttered their departments between 1995 and 2003.
   Dr. Gary Eglinton, chairman of the obstetrics department at New York Hospital Queens in Flushing, said the problem has been gnawing at the hospital for years.
   Eglinton said the hospital has lost close to a dozen obstetricians who have either restricted their practices or left entirely because of the cost of maintaining their insurance.
   “There are physicians on our staff who are close to the edge of the abyss,” Eglinton said. “They are just teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.”
   The top two highest risk areas for malpractice insurance fall under obstetrics, according to ACOG.
   Eglinton blames a lottery-like mentality among plaintiffs and a flawed legal system, where lawyers and other middlemen gamble on big profits, for driving up the insurance rates.
   “One of the problems we have in health care is that — statistically — there is almost no relationship between negligent behavior and awards and settlements,” Eglinton said.
   He believes drastic reforms are needed so the legal system can better address these discrepancies. Eglinton cited workman’s compensation as a successful system for compensating victims and holding the negligent accountable.