Trauma Center Closing?

[MaryKatesMom]

There was a blurb in my paper yesterday that the Trauma Center is closing in Orlando due to the doctors being driven from the state by lawyers. All trauma cases are being life-flighted to Tampa.

Can someone in Florida confirm this?

What will WDW do in case of emergency?

Isn't there a "Magic Hour" (no pun intended) within which emergency services are crucial?

I would be sick with grief if I ignored this and possibly endangered my precious DD's.

 

[CarolA]

There is a magic hour to save traum victims. However, Tampa's trauma center is WELL within the hour should this turn out to be true. Life Flight could get a victim to Tampa fairly quickly.

I doubt you will see it closed long. This tends to be a political football. I am surprised you have not seen in PA. It is happening all over now.

 

[Matty_Disfan]

Basically The U.S. is about to go through a legal revolution:

The doctors are very upset due to high insurance costs and rates of malpractice suits. Currently there is no cap on non-pecuniary loss compensation. That's why you see all those over-inflated judgements against doctors. They add up lost wages, and costs of medical services, but then they have these non-pecuniary (or as Dub-ya likes to call them, non-economic) losses for things like pain and suffering. This type of loss usually brings a judgement from say $800,000.00 to $8 million. What's gonna happen is your legislators will likely mirror Canada and other developed nations where the courts have put caps on these types of damages (it's capped at around $350,000.00 in Canada for all types of civil claims, not just malpractice).

If they do this then insurance rates will go down drastically. What we have in addition to the cap is also a legal presumption that you have to show 'gross' negligence on the part of the doctor in order to succeeed with a malpractice suit. This filters out some of the more frivolous claims and encourages only those who can prove that their doctor actually hurt them.

I'm not sure which is a better system for addressing victims needs, but I do know that the average Joe will enjoy better helath care at lower rates in your country if these steps are implemented.

Good Luck.

 

[nativetxn]

I'm going to move this over to our community board, where I am sure you will get a lot of opinions and replies.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Yes it's true due to the lack of neurosurgeons . It's a sad thing. There are only five Level-one Trauma Centers in Florida and this is one of them. Some of the hospital's mentioned in this article are NOT level-one's. And in fact now there is news coming out that Daytona may have to close its level-two facility.

http://www.wesh.com/news/2008668/detail.html
ORMC Prepares To Close Trauma Center
Malpractice Crisis Leaves Trauma Center Understaffed

POSTED: 12:52 p.m. EST February 27, 2003
UPDATED: 1:38 p.m. EST February 27, 2003

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The closest level-one trauma center in the Orlando area may soon be more than an hour away.

ORMC May Close Trauma Center

The chief executive officer at Orlando Regional Medical Center, John Hillenmeyer, announced Thursday that they may have to close their trauma center soon, WESH NewsChannel 2 reported.

To those in emergency medicine, the announcement came as no surprise. Teams of specialists needed to respond to emergencies have been falling under the pressures of the uninsured and continuing malpractice crisis.

"We do not have adequate neurosurgical coverage to continue meeting the requirements of a level-one trauma center," Hillenmeyer said.

Hillenmeyer said the hospital has no choice because of the resignation of five neurosurgeons that has made it impossible to keep the center covered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as required by law.

That means the most seriously ill or injured patients in the region will have to be flown as far away as Daytona Beach, Melbourne, or even Jacksonville and Miami.

"This is a crushing blow for me. I went into trauma surgery to save lives, and I thought Orlando was a community that had a growing trauma program, a growing need for a trauma center, and at this point, we feel paralyzed to some degree," ORMC Trauma Director Dr. Ernest Block said.

Black said he was crushed, but also concerned about every hospital in Central Florida. There could be a domino effect because emergency medical services will have to transport patients to already overcrowded emergency rooms that aren't equipped to handle those types of cases.

 

[eeyore0062]

Tampa is only an hour away by car, so flying, they could get there in little under 15 minutes. You will not, in any way, be putting your DD's at risk. No more so than driving anywhere where they might have to lifeflight to the closest trama center, which could be MUCH further away.

Personally, I am hoping this show from the doctors works to lower the malpractice suits and in turn, give us better health care, and lower our insurance premiums which are astronomical as is.

Relax, and have a great vacation!