DOCS SUPPLY POLITICAL POST CARDS:

Maryland patients are being encouraged by their doctors to get involved in the political debate over rising medical malpractice premiums. Doctors across Maryland have begun handing out to their patients preprinted postcards with messages such as “I am worried, and I vote!” T. Michael Preston, executive director of the Maryland State Medical Society, said, “This is making it clear that [it] is their constituents who are concerned. We know that elected officials respond to their constituents.” Doctors say rapidly rising malpractice insurance rates driven by large lawsuits have made it difficult to practice medicine, especially in high-risk fields like obstetrics. Premiums would rise 41 percent under a request made to state regulators by Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland, the state’s largest malpractice insurer. The governor has set up a task force to study rising malpractice rates and proposes setting limits on settlements paid to injured patients. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has called for a special session on the issue this fall, saying a $50 million state fund could help insurers pay for jury awards and settlements. That would allow insurers to keep rates low, according to Miller.