OHSU to pay millions in malpractice liability

In December the Oregon Supreme Court told OHSU, where I am a third year medical student, that the cap for economic ($100K) and non-economic ($100K) damages in a well-publicized malpractice lawsuit involving a neonate named Jordaan was too low and that the family suing OHSU can ask for millions. OHSU is going to have to pay up. Story. OHSU has announced a number of changes to its budget and services to defray the estimated $30 million increase in malpractice liability.

I have mixed feelings about the decision. First, I think the tort cap is too low, and second I think there should not be a tort cap - or a very, very high limit - on economic damages. This poor family is burdened with the huge expense of providing for severely brain damaged child whose expenses will easily reach into the millions in the child's lifetime.

But here's how the decision will impact me and my fellow students:

• Tuition Increase of 17% for entering students ($32K to $37K). My tuition will increase 5%.
• Reduction in class size from 120 to 115 students that results from the elimination of the regional clinical curriculm allowing OHSU to utilize clinical sites in Eugene and Bend for students (the university hospital itself can only support 115 students)

These changes to the school of medicine are painful because the state already has a significant physician shortage, and already has the highest in-state public tuition of any medical school in the country. Year after year OHSU asks the state legislature for more medical education funding and year after year it is denied for budgetary reasons.

People in this state, despite liberal voting patterns in the metropolitan areas, are rabidly taxophobic. This is why we continue to have under resourced public schools - OHSU included. Sure I will be able to pay back the estimated $200K education debt some years after I graduate, but the lack of support from the state and the public hurts.

Some people complain that doctors make too much at the expense of patients, and this is driving up the cost of health care (it is not a significant contributor, by the way, but the attitude is persistent). Yet, when the public makes little to no effort to provide us with education, it is unfair for the public to then expect us to work on its behalf, divested of economic interest. Nearly all of my classmates would be more than happy to give back to their communities for the privilege of receiving a medical education - but at this point the burden is all ours.