By Connie Mabin
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND - This week marked a critical date for physicians in Ohio and other states: medical malpractice insurance policy renewal time.

Rising rates, an increasing fear of being sued and slow results from new laws meant to limit malpractice lawsuits had doctors scrambling to try to find affordable coverage, the leader of a physicians group said Wednesday.

One of the state's leading malpractice insurers said rates have gone up, but so far, few doctors have dropped policies.

Dr. James Tasse, a Cleveland surgeon and leader of the Physicians Advocacy Group, said it's too early to say how many physicians or hospitals found coverage, dropped insurance, left the state or closed down because of rising rates.

"But I know there are people struggling with it," he said. "Everybody's calling and saying, 'Has so and so gotten insurance yet?'"

The new business quarter began Tuesday, a date when many doctors were due to renew malpractice insurance policies. Doctors were looking for help as late as Monday, Tasse said.

Columbus obstetrician Dr. Sarah Sams saw her rates rise $5,000 in January to about $28,000 for the year.

She won't have to renew for about six months, but says she's telling patients due to deliver after Jan. 1 that she might not be able to serve them because of insurance increases.

"I'll take care of them as long as I can," Sams, 38, said Wednesday. "I intend to keep going if I can afford to, but there is the potential I would have to quit."

OHIC Insurance Co. of Columbus, the only medical malpractice insurer based in Ohio, said no doctor insured with the company in Columbus failed to renew over higher costs. Two or three of 422 in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County hadn't renewed, OHIC said.

OHIC, which ranks among the top three malpractice insurers doing business in Ohio, said its rates went up 17.5 percent this year in Columbus and 30 percent in Cleveland.

Robin Yocum, a company spokesman, said the insurer has faced higher court claims and jury awards in Cleveland and northeast Ohio.

Tasse said a member survey done last month shows 65 northeast Ohio doctors have either retired, closed their practices or moved over the past year because of insurance increases that doctors and insurers blame on frivolous lawsuits.

Ohio law that took effect in April caps pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice lawsuits at $350,000 for most claims and $500,000 for injuries causing permanent damage. The caps are higher for claims involving more than one person and catastrophic injuries.

But doctors and insurers say the law isn't helping rates go down.

Trial lawyers and other opponents of lawsuit caps blame insurance companies for the situation and say limits on damages block people with legitimate claims from being fairly compensated.

In Florida's Palm Beach County, Dr. Stephen Babic said that he declined to renew his insurance in May because the cost was $50,000. "Last year it was 30 (thousand) for only a million dollars' worth of coverage," he said. "I'll have to take my chances."

He estimated that by year's end 50-60 percent of the doctors in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties will not have coverage.

He has curbed services and is reluctant to see certain patients, including new emergency room patients. "I say, 'No, I'm not going to take care of you. You may end up suing me,'" Babic said.

In West Virginia, where some surgeons walked out in January because of rates, the Legislature created a high-risk insurer through the Board of Risk and Insurance Management as a temporary fix.