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60 °F Forecast | Road Cams Monday, September 20, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend September 5, 2004 Medical specialists reduce their hours By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune If you’re contemplating risky activity that might endanger your head, try to avoid doing it on Thursdays and every other weekend. Those are the days when Medford’s two hospitals will no longer have a neurosurgeon available for emergency calls. Patients who need a neurosurgeon’s care on those days could be transported to a hospital in Eugene, Bend or Portland. Dr. Donald Roberson, one of four neurosurgeons who handled emergency calls, is leaving Southern Oregon. The remaining three, Drs. Jeffrey Louie, Donald Ross, and Miroslav Bobek, do not have enough time to care for their patients and also handle emergency calls every third night. "It’s not a dollar issue for them," said Dr. Eugene Ogrod, interim chief medical officer at Providence Medford Medical Center. "They just don’t have the hours." "They’re not saying they don’t want to do the work," said Mary Barnum, trauma coordinator for Rogue Valley Medical Center. "They cannot do it anymore." Advertisement The new schedule, which took effect Thursday, will probably affect fewer than a dozen people over the coming months, but it reflects the growing shortage of medical specialists across the United States, said Susan Werner, trauma program manager in the Department of Human Services. "Less-populated areas lose their specialists first," Werner said, noting that Good Samaritan Medical Center in Corvallis recently lost a neurosurgeon, too. There will be a neurosurgeon available locally during the Labor Day weekend, but not on Sept. 11-12 and every other weekend thereafter. Neurosurgeons are typically called in to evaluate patients who have life-threatening head injuries. Accident victims and people who have suffered a severe stroke or concussion may die or suffer permanent brain damage without a neurosurgeon’s speedy intervention. "I can’t imagine mothers feeling comfortable with this arrangement if they have children who play football or soccer," said Dr. Paul Hoffman, a surgeon and chief of staff at Ashland Community Hospital. Emergency calls come at every hour of the day and night, adding extra hours to neurosurgeons’ long work days and wreaking havoc with their work schedule. "We’re working 12- and 13-hour days," said neurosurgeon Donald Ross. "A couple of days a week, when you’re on call, the phone rings all night. "Then of course there’s no day off," Ross said. "You have to start the next day. After several days you’re rather fatigued." Ross said taking trauma calls every fourth day was one of the chief factors that led his colleague, Roberson, to leave Southern Oregon. Roberson declined an invitation to speak with the Mail Tribune. Ross said he and his two remaining colleagues, Drs. Bobek and Louie, decided it was impossible to take emergency calls every third night and to provide quality care for their patients as well as the accident victims. "The more ER time we spend, the fewer patients we can see," Ross said. Finding someone to replace Roberson may be difficult. Ross said about 125 new neurosurgeons will finish their training this year, but 350 left the profession in 2002 alone. "It’ll take three years just to make up for people who left in 2002," he said. Oregon’s medical climate makes it relatively difficult to recruit new physicians. High malpractice-insurance premiums and low reimbursements from the federal government for Medicare patients put Oregon at a competitive disadvantage. Ross acknowledged that transporting patients to distant hospitals will create hardship for the patients and their families. "We wish it weren’t so," he said. "But this is the way it is right now." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities