Former Nevada doctor testifies

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003 | 11:13 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A former Nevada obstetrician was expected to tell Congress today that he left the state after 12 years of practice because of skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance rates.

Dr. Shelby Wilbourn, who now practices in Maine, was scheduled to testify before a Senate panel to offer testimony that supports an effort in Congress to set medical malpractice liability caps.

President Bush and many Republicans in Congress advocate a federal cap, similar to a cap approved by the Nevada Legislature last year.

But many Democrats, including Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., believe the issue is best left to the states. Reid believes that insurance companies -- not lawyers out for big payouts -- are often at the root of the problem.

Reid signed on to insurance reform legislation introduced today by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., that aims to put insurance companies under the same anti-trust rules as most other industries.

Doctors who make mistakes should be held accountable, Reid said. In some cases a proposed $250,000 cap is not enough, Reid said.

Reid met in his Capitol office today with four victims of doctor mistakes, including a Texas woman whose doctor needlessly removed part of her jaw, mistakenly believing she had cancer. She did not.

Reid noted that another woman's doctor removed her breasts mistakenly.

"I've been a longtime supporter of the legal system," Reid, a former trial lawyer, told the victims in his office. "Is having your wife or daughter or mother's breast removed (by mistake) worth more than $250,000? I think it is."