In many respects our healthcare system has never been better. In general, we enjoy longer, healthier lives and the benefits of miraculous medical technology.

In spite of these advances, our healthcare system faces a growing "silent" crisis that most people are generally unaware of: a runaway medical liability system that threatens to drive many physicians out of practice.

As an obstetrician, I see firsthand the impact on our profession of sky-high jury awards for real or perceived medical errors. These awards can now run into the tens of millions of dollars, far more than the $1 million of insurance coverage that each obstetrician purchases at an unaffordable cost of over $115,000 a year in premiums. What good is insurance if personal injury lawyers manipulate impressionable juries into making outrageous awards of millions of dollars above a doctor's insurance coverage level? That means that each time we deliver a baby, we place all of our personal assets at risk along with our family's financial security. No profession can operate in such an unstable environment.

We already are seeing physicians dropping their obstetrical practices and limiting themselves exclusively to gynecological services. If this continues unchecked, over time, women's access to obstetrical services will be compromised. I urge my patients, friends, and neighbors to call our local State Assembly Member David Sidikman at 516-822-5590 and urge him to fix this broken legal system before it is too late.

Lawrence H. Tydings, MD