Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 5, 1995                   TAG: 9511060065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DOCTORS TACKLE VIOLENCE

At the conclusion of a meeting at The Homestead in Hot Springs, the doctors passed a resolution saying that people obtaining a marriage license should be required to sign an "anti-domestic violence" statement. Among the language suggested for the statement: "Neither of you is the property of the other."

Earlier last week, the group heard Dr. John Nelson of Salt Lake City speak about spousal violence. Nelson, who has a practice in obstetrics and gynecology, said that when he began asking his female patients if they had been abused by a spouse or friend, he found that many of them had been. In one case, he even called police about a patient's situation.

Another type of abuse also was on the minds of physicians: the usurpation by insurance companies of the doctors' right to decide when a patient should be released from the hospital.

The medical society, which represents about half the state's practicing physicians, passed a resolution reaffirming doctors' right to make that decision, said Godwin, a pathologist with American Medical Laboratories in Chantilly.

He said the group also will increase its scrutiny of the issues in Medicaid, the insurance program that serves the indigent population. Among proposals in Congress to cut costs in Medicaid and Medicare, which pays for health care for senior citizens, are those that suggest money for Medicaid be given to states in block grants and that states decide how to spend it.

The block-grant solution would pit many groups against each other as they vied for funds for services, Godwin said. A committee that keeps up with issues between doctors and third-party payers will take on the Medicaid watch, he said.

Two Roanoke Valley doctors were elected to posts with the medical society Saturday.

Kenneth Tuck, a Roanoke ophthalmologist, became president-elect, and Roanoke internist Lawrence Monahan was elected to his fifth term as speaker.

Other new officers are: Carol Shapiro, a Woodbridge plastic surgeon, first vice president; Shelton Horsley of Richmond, a general surgeon, second vice president; Kenneth Geoly of Fairfax, a nephrologist, third vice-president; Rolando Santos of Springfield, a specialist in pulmonary diseases, secretary-treasurer; and William Hazel of Herndon, an orthopedic surgeon, vice speaker.