Last month, Viking Pundit took note of doctors walking off the job at three West Virginia hospitals to protest escalating malpractice insurance rates. The Sunday New York Times magazine, in a piece cleverly titled "Surgical Strike," offers unsettling testimony from six WV surgeons. Here are three of them:

Stephen Alatis, orthopedic surgeon, Weirton Hospital: "I was born and raised in Weirton. Whenever I spoke to other doctors, they kind of smirked at the fact that I was actually back in West Virginia. They thought I was an idiot for coming back."

Dante Marra, orthopedic surgeon, Wheeling Hospital: "Everything is in my wife's name. I can't even participate in the American dream of owning a home, because it would be fair game for a trial attorney."

Ahmad Rahbar, cardiothoracic surgeon, Wheeling Hospital: "I did not take the Hippocratic oath to practice medicine in this environment. I am always looking at the patient as a sort of potential enemy – and that is not a healthy situation to be in."

I'd like to believe these are isolated cases, but as the article concludes, it notes: "Their [the West Virginia doctors] protest has already inspired some of their peers: surgeons in coastal Mississippi have just walked out, and doctors in New Jersey are planning a slow-down this month."