Good physicians know the bad ones in their midst. Why don't they point fingers?

[n2doc]

Outrageous! Doctors Who Do Harm
Good physicians know the bad ones in their midst. Why don't they point fingers?
By Michael Crowley

Look the Other Way

Robert Whitney of Attleboro, Massachusetts, suffered persistent and crippling stomach pain until his problem was finally diagnosed: During a hernia operation four years earlier, surgical mesh had been mistakenly attached to his bladder. The surgeon, Dr. Jose Veizaga-Mendez, was dunned $652,000 for that bit of malpractice, disciplined by his hospital and investigated by the state over the quality of care provided to seven other patients, two of whom died. In 2006 he surrendered his license to practice medicine in Massachusetts.

But by then, Veizaga-Mendez was plying his trade at the VA Medical Center in Marion, Illinois. Supervisors had called Massachusetts state licensing authorities for references -- but weren't warned about the physician's history. In November the Department of Veterans Affairs announced it was investigating whether Veizaga-Mendez was at fault in the deaths of ten patients, including a 50-year-old Air Force veteran who died after what was supposed to be a routine gallbladder operation.

One of medicine's most cherished commandments is "First, do no harm." Most doctors take this admonition to heart, but when it comes to those who fail to honor this promise, the medical establishment resorts to another, less noble commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow physician."

No one knows how many chronically bad doctors are out there. But a recent survey of 1,600 physicians by Columbia University's Institute on Medicine as a Profession revealed that 46 percent of the doctors in the survey had witnessed "serious" medical errors by their colleagues without reporting them. This was true even though 93 percent said they realized they should turn such doctors in.

Compounding this problem are doctors who give their colleagues lenient treatment in state disciplinary proceedings. "Doctors say, 'There but for the grace of God go I. Do I want to take away this guy's livelihood?'" says Arthur Levin of the New York-based Center for Medical Consumers.

It doesn't help that consumers have so little information. Only 16 states tally all malpractice payouts made by doctors on public websites. Says Dr. Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen, a pro-consumer watchdog group: "There isn't an adequate system to catch these doctors after they've done one or two things, as opposed to just letting them go on and on."

more:
http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/outrageous-doctors-who-do-harm/article53670.html

More than that, the staff know too...

[grilled onions]

1. Where Are The Cut Throat Insurance Companies When This Happens?

They don't hesitate to bump off patients from their list for per exisiting as well as current problems. These bad doctors can really drain an insurance company when the spam hits the fan so where are these big toughs at a time like this?

[cloudbase]

2. That happens in many professions.

It's just easier to look the other way than go through the process of removing the bad ones.

[acmavm]

3. Once I switched doctors right after one almost killed me. When I asked

the new guy how can people like the doctor that almost sent me into the Great Beyond practice medicine and he said "somebody's got to graduate at the bottom of the class".

[Orrex]

5. Are you sure that your doctor wasn't referring to McCain?

You betcha!

[acmavm]

7. What in the hell does that mean? Where did you pull that one from? And

do you really believe it added to the 'conversation'?

[Orrex]

8. Uh, hello?

"Somebody's got to graduate at the bottom of the class." That was, I thought, a fairly obvious joke on the esteemed Senator from Arizona, who famously graduated very near the bottom of his class.

See?

[supernova]

9. Except that it's pointless

as well as tasteless.

There is not excuse for protecting incompetent workers, even if that profession comes with a white lab coat and a corner office.

There's still too much of a gentleman's agreement between doctors to not squeal on the bad ones. Lawyers less so now, but they still need to work on it.

[Orrex]

10. Then I won't bother telling you what my doctor said when I told him 'it hurts when I do this.'

Nothing in either of my two previous posts or this one does anything to defend doctors' secrecy or wagon-circling.

Holy moley.

[varkam]

12. Quit defending vaccine manufacturers you shill!

See? It's much more fun to deride people when you don't actually read what they write and just heap the snark on anyways.

[juno jones]

4. From my own experience in helping train doctors:

Approximately:

40% are people with a gift and calling for the profession.

40% are technical people, not as good bedside, but extremely competent and proud of their skills.

20% are people primarily doing it for the status and the money. And of those there are a few percent that are downright callous and dangerous to patients.

IMHO, we need more public med schools and more public funding for those with a calling who wish to pursue medicine. I know a few nurses who would have pursued med school if they could have afforded it. As it is they are practitioners who do most of the work but make far less than the doctors who own the practices where they work.

[uppityperson]

6. Being in health care, when people ask for recommendations, I try to give 2 good ones,

and tell who I have heard more negative than positive.

Of course everyone has someone they don't like, or get along with, but it can be difficult to get fair opinions, having had difficulty narrowing down to a specialist.

[mopinko]

11. how about some random drug testing for med students?

if you can test the football team.....