Grateful, loyal patients raise $40K to keep doctor insured

Rising costs of liability insurance had an Ohio oncologist eyeing retirement. But his patients rallied together to pay the premium and keep him in practice.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Sept. 2, 2002.

Something seemed wrong when Kathy Fritsch stepped into the office of Romeo Diaz, MD.

Some patients looked as if they had been crying. Staff seemed unusually quiet and not as cheery.

"I noticed the office was kind of somber, but I didn't know why," she said. "The atmosphere was intensely different that day."

Fritsch went to see Dr. Diaz, a surgical oncologist in Westlake, Ohio, after she discovered a lump near her rib cage. She has been a patient of Dr. Diaz since 1993, having twice experienced breast cancer.

This time, Dr. Diaz said the lump was nothing more than fatty tissue. But her relief turned to sadness when the 60-year-old physician told her he was retiring because his medical liability insurance bill had soared dramatically.

"I realized when he had a tear in his eye, it was serious," Fritsch said.

Fritsch didn't want to lose her physician, so she rallied Dr. Diaz's other patients for a common cause: They would raise $40,000 to cover the insurance increase and keep their doctor from retiring.

"This is a man who I feel saved my life twice," Fritsch said.

After Fritsch's July 29 visit with Dr. Diaz, she contacted the media. Staff at Dr. Diaz's office, about 25 miles west of Cleveland, told upset patients to contact Fritsch.

Two days later, about 60 patients and their family members packed Dr. Diaz's office to show their support, leave checks and tell their stories to the reporters who had arrived.

"The first day we raised almost $17,000. People were dropping checks off at the office like crazy," said Fritsch, of Vermilion, Ohio, who started a benevolent fund for Dr. Diaz and put in the first $100. [...]