News Releases
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January 13, 2006
Emergency care system in state 'average'
"The emergency health care system's in serious condition. We have a safety net for health care that is frayed," said Dr. Stephen Epstein, an emergency care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
Epstein was a member of the American College of Emergency Physicians task force that studied the nation's emergency care. Their report was released Tuesday.
In Illinois, the panel cited a shrinking number of hospital beds able to admit seriously ill emergency room patients and a malpractice environment that discourages medical specialists from serving as emergency room consultants.
Emergency patients tend to be sicker and more unstable than others, causing some specialists to be reluctant to see them because of the higher liability and higher malpractice insurance rates, Epstein said.
The result is that some specialists leave certain states or refuse to provide emergency care.
Illinois ranked 13th in the nation in the number of board-certified emergency physicians per 100,000 people.
Read the complete story at the pantagraph.com.