After a quiet few months, it finds itself in the middle of not one but two controversies over local health care.

One concerns orthopaedic specialist Dr. Tom Moore, whose work permit, apparently on the recommendation of the Bermuda Medical Society, will not be renewed.

Dr. Moore offers medical treatments which seem to satisfy his patients, many of whom suffer from various forms of back pain which mainstream medical practitioners have been unable to ease.

Apparently because other doctors claim they can treat these ailments -- even if their patients are dissatisfied with the treatments -- Dr. Moore has received his walking papers.

The second controversy concerns Mrs. Simone Barton, whose insurer has up to now refused to pay for her to receive medical treatment abroad.

Mrs. Barton has endometriosis and wants to receive laser treatment, which is expensive and unavailable in Bermuda.

The alternative, which can be performed in Bermuda, is a hysterectomy, but Mrs. Barton, who is in her 30s, says this would prevent her from bearing children. Her insurer, Colonial, is apparently balking at the cost of laser treatment, although developments yesterday indicate it may be changing its position.

Both controversies have their roots in the past.

Dr. Moore succeeded Dr. John Tanner, whose departure signalled a similar uproar. The same issue -- of whether the medical expertise available on the Island should depend on the vagaries of a work permit -- is still unresolved.

Mrs. Barton's problems stem from a decision made about two years ago by local insurers aimed at stemming the flight of Bermudians going abroad for expensive medical treatment when it was available locally.

Insurers were being hit by the high cost of overseas health care, especially in the United States, while King Edward VII Memorial Hospital and local doctors were losing patients -- and money -- for treatments which were routinely available here.

Under the new policy, insurers would not pay for treatment abroad unless it had the support of the patient's physician and was unavailable locally.

Mrs. Barton appears to have the support of her physician and her bid to seek treatment abroad does not reflect any lack of confidence in the local and highly competent medical community, although it appears the insurer was under the misapprehension that a second alternative treatment was available here.

Colonial must now decide whether $13,000 -- the estimated difference between the costs of laser treatment and a hysterectomy -- is worth more than a woman's ability to give birth. This should not be a difficult choice.

In Dr. Moore's case, the Medical Society must decide whether to put the interests of its members -- the Island's doctors -- before those of Dr.

Moore's patients.

The physicians might gain some extra patients, but it seems likely that most of Dr. Moore's patients will either seek treatment abroad or will cease getting treatment altogether.

If that is the case, the Medical Society should have little difficulty in changing its mind.