USA Today Letters to the Editor Address Recent Article on U.S. Physician Shortage

• Jeffrey Kaufman: The article indicates that "it is clear that we need to ramp up the number of general surgeons being trained" in the next five years, but such action is "impossible under the current teaching paradigm without massively increasing support for the education of surgical residents and fellows," Kaufman, an associate professor of surgery at the Tufts University School of Medicine, writes in a USA Today letter. "The problem is that funding for the education of surgeons goes to hospitals, but most teaching is done by experienced surgeons who do that work for free," Kaufman writes, adding, "Given the pressures associated with insufficient staffing for general surgery and many surgical specialties, senior surgeons are increasingly forced to give up teaching time and clinical research in order to provide energy and time for fundamental patient care." He concludes, "We can increase the number of students entering medical school, but, if we do not have more clinical teachers, we will not achieve the goal of having excellent surgeons available for the future" (Kaufman, USA Today, 3/3).
  
  
• Lewis Sharps: The article "hit the bull's-eye" about the shortage of surgeons but "overlooked the effect medical malpractice has on a region's ability to retain surgeons," Sharps, an orthopedic spine surgeon and president of the Positive Physicians Insurance Exchange, writes in a USA Today letter. In 2002, several malpractice insurers "went out of business" because of "rising costs stemming from the increase in liability claims ... limiting the options for doctors," he writes, adding, "The prohibitive malpractice premiums forced many specialty doctors and practices to close or relocate to other states." The article was "correct that there is a perfect storm forming as a result of the shortage of physicians," but "it has been brewing on the horizon for a decade," Sharps concludes (Sharps, USA Today, 3/3).