Giving birth to lawsuits about giving birth.  This is Dr. Steven Andrew Davis, Speaking of Health.  Can’t find an obstetrician to deliver that baby?  According to Dr. Elizabeth Connell, professor emeritus of gynecology and obstetrics at Atlanta ’s Emory University School of Medicine, some 37% of Georgia ob-gyn doctors “do not provide childbirth services because of skyrocketing malpractice insurance costs.”  In an article published in Skin & Allergy News, Dr. Connell also points to another casualty of what she considers lawsuit abuse:  reduced development and availability of reproductive medical technology.

For example, she cites pulling off the market the “highly effective” six-rod Norplant contraceptive following lawsuits against the manufacturer.  The device contained silicone, which was claimed to be linked to development of autoimmune diseases – but has never been proven to do so.  Dr. Connell observed the lawsuit stir about silicone implants first-hand as the chair of FDA-hearings on silicone breast implants.

Other casualties of litigation were what Dr. Connell calls two “good intrauterine devices – the Copper-7 and Tatum-T” in the mid-1980’s.  She says “there were no convincing scientific data to back up the claims, yet the manufacturers pulled the products from the market due largely to mounting legal defense costs, even though they were winning lawsuits.”  Frivolous litigation, she says, is a major reason why fewer companies now, than in the past, are active in the field of contraceptive technology.

For a copy of this script and journal reference, visit our web site, www.speakingofhealth.com.  Speaking of Health, I’m Dr. Steven Andrew Davis for CBS News.

 Ref:  Skin & Allergy News. March 2004. Pg. 12.