Hospital has shortage of trauma surgeons

By Emily Richmond

Wednesday, March 26, 2003 | 11:31 a.m.

A shortage of trauma surgeons has left Desert Springs Hospital scrambling to find doctors for the emergency room schedule this week.

Hospital spokeswoman Lori Harris confirmed this morning that while the general surgery schedule has not been interrupted, the regular roster of trauma specialists has been reduced. Patient care has not, and will not, be compromised, Harris said.

"People should be assured that we have a backup plan in place and are working on the logistics of our call schedules to make sure all areas are covered," Harris said.

Harris said she was not aware of any emergency surgery patients being turned away from Desert Springs or ambulances being redirected to other hospitals.

By law, Desert Springs cannot simply turn away emergency patients because of a shortage of surgeons, said Derek Cox, clinical manager for American Medical Response ambulance service. Hospitals may ask for patients to be diverted to other emergency rooms for up to one hour at a time provided another facility in the immediate area is not already on divert status, Cox said.

The rising cost of medical malpractice insurance has caused other problems for Desert Springs.

Since January, when most of its orthopedic specialists quit in the face of soaring premiums, the hospital has been transferring patients with broken bones to other hospitals to have the bones re-set.

Cheryl Smith, spokeswoman for Sunrise Medical Center, said the hospital is ready to accept patient transfers from Desert Springs if that becomes necessary.

"Obviously emergency room overcrowding is a continual issue for all of us in the Las Vegas Valley, but as of right now we're in good shape," Smith said this morning.

Sunrise also has its full staff of trauma surgeons available with a backup roster on call, Smith said.