Created: 2/9/2007 2:55:21 PM 
By Jackelyn Barnard First Coast News
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Marcia Beaird's life changed forever about a year and a half ago. She has to wear a pressure garment for the rest of her life. It's basically a body suit that helps keep the swelling down.
From her breasts on down to her ankles she is covered with scars. She lost her skin because of a flesh eating bacteria infection.
Beaird says she got the infection after she had liposuction. She says her doctor used unsterile instruments in the surgery.
"I have to be able to go forward and not let this eat at me inside. It's hard sometimes," says Beaird who has hired an attorney and is in the early stages of taking legal action against her doctor.
Beaird says she realizes she will get little if anything in her case. Her doctor is one of the more than 2,000 doctors statewide that elect not to carry medical malpractice insurance.
"Marcia's healthcare insurance company has paid approximately two million dollars for her healthcare. Well, now Dr. Tiller is getting the benefit of that. It's not right. These people need to have adequate healthcare insurance for procedures they are undertaking," says Sean Cronin, who is Beaird's attorney.
Cronin says doctors choosing not to carry adequate malpractice insurance is a growing trend in the state of Florida.
The doctors who do "go bare" are not breaking the rules. The state statute says if the doctor meets certain requirements, the doctor can go without the maximum coverage.
"You're not required to have medical malpractice insurance provided that you provide basically a security with the state of Florida saying that you can pay up to $100,000 judgment," says Cronin.
According to the law, if a doctor decides not to carry malpractice insurance he has to warn his patients. A notice should be found in the doctor's waiting room.
The information can also be found on Florida's Department of Health website.
The doctor's profile has a section on financial responsibility.
Beaird says she knew her doctor didn't have the coverage. "I found out about it when I went in and signed all the papers, but it was one of those don't worry about it just sign that, sign that."
Dorothy Hartman believes all doctors should carry at least $250,000 in insurance. Hartman has more than $600,000 in medical bills from a flesh eating bacteria infection she got after having surgery to remove a painful varicose vein in her leg.
Hartman says she got the bacteria from unsterile instruments used in her surgery. Her doctor, Norman S. Cohen, carried the minimum coverage of $100,000. That is also the amount Cohen paid in a settlement for damages in Hartman's case.
"It helps. That's where the money went is bills, but they're still there and I will always have medical bills," says Hartman.
Hartman says she got a notice in the mail that Dr. Cohen has retired. First Coast News found he has moved down south. According to the Department of Health, his practicing address comes back to a mobile home in Edgewater, Florida.
According to his profile, he carries no malpractice insurance. "I think when you go into a doctor's waiting room and rather than reading the magazines, you may want to look on the wall," says Cronin.
Marcia Beaird says check the wall, check the doctor out online. "You should have all the truth to everything right there at your fingertips."
Beaird says the $4,000 she paid for liposuction is nothing compared to what she says she will now pay for the rest of her life. "I'd like to have a life back."
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