From the Incompetent Doctor, And The way to Protect Yourself

Two nurses who lost their hospital jobs and endured prosecution after reporting a physician to the Texas Medical Board in patient safety concerns can get $375, 000 each during a settlement of a federal lawsuit they had filed against their the other employer, the physician, along with other parties [Lowes, 2010].

Every physician in California comes with a recurring nightmare of finding their name however monthly "discipline" list as the California medical board, the regulator of doctors in the country. The report includes a brief description of the misdemeanor, and the punishment. Out of your 30 or so expressions reported, about 90% are related to alcohol or drugs, usually contributing to probation and rehabilitation. A few offenses are related to fraud, with the remaining punishments from the incompetence, usually so egregious as to be frightening.

In reality, these issues are the tip of an iceberg. For every action taken, who knows how many are not reported, or don't rise to the point of discipline? Some contribute to malpractice suits, but these rarely help with physician suspension or preparing.

The article quoted above illustrates how difficult it is an to report and specialization even one bad a family doctor. Two nurses risked you can actually careers by complaining about what appears to clear incompetence. That doctor used her or his friendship and influence associated with hospital administrator and area officials to both steer clear of the charges and for that nurses fired from their entire jobs.

Although the nurses eventually prevailed in court, the doctor has remained used, although he under analysis.

How can society as a whole, and your family above all, make sure your physician is doing a good job?

Physician groups and hospital staffs do a better job policing themselves than state medical boards. At the rear of large groups, physicians demand substantial ethical, financial, and legal incentives to monitor, evaluate and improve the care they are giving. Excluding the impaired or incompetent doctor makes exceptional sense.

One of the few beneficial aspects of Obamacare is it contains financial incentives to just make physicians to form establishments, which will be additional effective than bureaucracies and review boards in improving quality.

In the meantime, you can probably protect you and your family by using doctors are generally affiliated with larger conglomerates and larger hospitals. Although there are exceptions, it is significantly less likely an spoil or incompetent doctor are likely to be practicing with others. Counter-intuitive as it might seem, avoiding the local "Marcus Welby" practitioner is the fact that key to insuring good care. Nurses in Texas Whistleblower Case Accept $750, 000.

Reference:

Robert Lowes, "Nurses in Texas Whistleblower Case Accept $750, 000, " Medscape Medical practitioners News, August 12, 2010.

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