Friday Commentary: Doctors Quit Medicine

Some physicians, fed up with the costs of their practice, are ready to hang up their stethoscopes and shift careers. - Some 5,000 patients suddenly found themselves without an ob/gyn last November when Dr. Tara Wah closed her practice in Tallahassee, Fla.  Wah, 55, informed her patients in a letter that she could "no longer afford to make ends meet."

After 24 years, "I'm working longer hours than ever," she wrote. "Insurance payments for patient care have stayed virtually the same for the last 15 years, while the cost of doing business, including health insurance, staff salaries and supplies have risen."

The rising cost of malpractice insurance, particularly for her specialty, was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"My malpractice insurance was $125,000 a year, and going up," said Wah. "The only way to get the extra money was to cut back on my salary."  See CNN.