It was the latest episode in Mississippi's debate over tort reform, which Musgrove has promised to help resolve in a special session of the Legislature before the end of summer.

Many doctors claim that frivolous lawsuits have driven their insurance premiums to unreasonable levels and now threaten to leave them without underwriters.

Trial lawyers say the problem is being caused by profit-hungry insurance companies.

Mississippi has only a handful of malpractice insurers today, compared to 37 five years ago.

Musgrove said the shortage amounts to a "crisis," acknowledging that hundreds of physicians stand to lose their coverage by September.

One of them, pulmonary specialist Fred Pakron of Biloxi, said he won't be able to see patients after Aug. 1, when his malpractice coverage is due to expire.

But Musgrove reminded Pakron and the rest of the Rotary group that he's been trying to reach a solution in meetings with doctors and trial lawyers.

He said the conferences would produce a plan that would pass the Legislature this summer.

The Legislature set up two tort-reform task forces earlier this year, but the session ended without a plan on the issue.

The task forces are still hearing testimony from state officials, physicians and lawyers.

So far, Musgrove has only proposed setting up a state-sponsored insurance pool to provide malpractice coverage to doctors.

He repeated that idea Thursday, saying doctors would pay for the fund.

But state senators who attended the speech questioned whether the pool would be able to cover the large punitive damages awards against doctors that have made headlines in Mississippi since the 1990s.

"It's really just a stopgap measure," said Sen. Billy Hewes, R-Gulfport.

Several doctors at the Rotary meeting said they doubted an effective tort reform plan could pass the Legislature, where many of the most powerful members are trial lawyers.

Gulfport doctor Jason Smith said some members of the Legislature's two tort reform task forces are involved in lawsuits against physicians.

"When a doctor goes up there to testify in front of them, that's like being a downed pilot surrounded by Saddam Hussein and the Iraqis," Smith said.