Last week a letter from California lawmakers to the State's Medical Board implored the agency to do a better job of monitoring doctors and the quality of care they provide. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, the Board was even threatened with dissolution unless "significant progress" was demonstrated in terms of protecting patients from dangerous doctors. If the legislative committee charged with overseeing the Board does not "receive firm commitments from the board" showing significant progress in these and other areas, the agency may be dissolved as of January 1, 2014.
The Medical Board Standards
What this letter from State lawmakers says about the protection of patients in California is, to say the least, unsettling. Doctors who pose a significant threat to the public are being allowed to continue practicing medicine, heightening the risk of injury and death to their patients. The standards by which doctors are measured in a Medical Board action requires egregious misconduct before discipline can be imposed. In spite of this, far too many physicians are actually breaching these standards and suffering no consequences. More specifically, in a Medical Board action the physician must commit “gross negligence”, and there must be “clear and convincing evidence to a reasonable certainty”. Under the law, "gross negligence" consists of a lack of even scant care or an extreme departure from the ordinary standard of conduct. What the legislative committee above has found is that even though these standards are being breached, doctors are not being disciplined.
Medical Negligence Cases in California
Absent the Medical Board ensuring a minimum level of competence in the profession, medical malpractice suits might seem like a way to maintain a certain quality of medical practice. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that physicians are put on a pedestal by jurors, and verdicts against doctors are an extreme rarity. For example, in Orange County physicians who are sued by their patients prevail in more than 90% of the cases filed against them. Even where the evidence is overwhelming, malpractice insurers refuse to settle claims, and juries almost never hold doctors accountable. Undeniably deserving patients are sent away with nothing, and incompetent doctors continue practicing with impunity.
If you or a family member have been harmed by medical neglect, you should do all you can to ensure the responsible physician is held accountable. Bringing these tragic stories to the attention of key lawmakers (Senator Curren D. Price, Jr., and Assemblyman Rich Gordon) might just give victims in California a chance to be heard.
Contact an Orange County malpractice attorney to find out more about your rights.
SOURCE: Legislators threaten to kill state medical board, Los Angeles Times, Local, April 11, 2013, by Lisa Girion and Scott Glover
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