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Knowing your physician's track record could mean the difference between life and death. But consumers can get more information on the effectiveness of their home appliances than on the people they entrust with the care of their health.
That's what the family of the late Tillis James Churchill discovered after the Gainesville, Fla., high school football coach underwent botched stomach surgery. Churchill's doctor had assured him he'd have no problem. But the mismanaged surgery led to multi-organ failure, and Churchill died in pain weeks later on his 49th birthday.
Far too many doctors only get their wrists slapped even for serious offenses.
Churchill's family later learned the doctor had lost nine patients and repeatedly been held liable for malpractice. Churchill's son, T.J., says if they had known of this record, "I think that my dad and others would still be alive."
The tragic case demonstrates how important it is for consumers to know about unsafe doctors. It resembles numerous medical mishaps across the country that have sparked demands for greater disclosure of physician information and led many states to launch physician-profile systems.
Yet despite some advances, Charles Inlander, president of the People's Medical Society, a consumer group based in Allentown, Pa., says, "Health care is the last bastion of nondisclosure to consumers in the U.S."
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| Photo by Laughing Stock |
The basic facts about your doctor—for example, where he or she studied —are usually easy to obtain. Going beyond that, however, is another story.
"Ideally," says Sidney Wolfe, M.D., director of the Public Citizen Health Research Group, a Washington consumer advocacy organization, "you'd like outcome data on physicians"—information on the results of treatments. But such information, he says, is rarely available.
In its absence, he and others advise that the best alternative is to check whether your doctor has a disciplinary record—although here, too, the task isn't easy and the result could be a false sense of security, if information is incomplete.
While most doctors have never been professionally disciplined, some have. Such action can take many forms—from revoking or restricting hospital privileges to yanking a physician's license to practice medicine. And a large number of malpractice payments can be another tip-off of possible trouble.
While state medical boards have broad powers, including the ability to lift a physician's license to practice, Wolfe says "far too many" doctors only get their wrists slapped even for serious offenses.
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