Saturday, November 06, 1999
Bill asks to post medical lawsuits
Malpractice files would be on Net
BY SPENCER HUNT
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — Doctors' malpractice histories can be pretty elusive for consumers, but a bill in the Ohio Legislature would post them on the Internet for all to see.
Rep. Dale Van Vyven, R-Sharonville, and a key figure in Ohio's health-care debates, says his proposal will help protect consumers from the few bad doctors practicing medicine. Special-interest groups that represent physicians argue the plan would harm many good doctors' reputations.
The measure puts Ohio in the middle of a growing national debate that has seen similar laws pass in seven states, but fail in another eight. Despite the mixed results, Mr. Van Vyven is optimistic. “There are doctors out there who are trouble spots, and people need to know about them,” he said. “You can get some information from the state right now, but it's not that much.”
An Ohio State Medical Board Web site lists about 32,000 doctors' ages, educations and medical specialties — plus any official reprimands, license suspensions or revocations. Mr. Van Vyven's bill would add:
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ON THE WEB
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People looking for currently available information on Ohio doctors can request it via computer, at www.state.oh.us/med/ or by calling a general information line at (614) 466-3934. The board handles about 200 requests for doctor profiles each day.
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• Malpractice settlements and awards.
• Any felony, and some misdemeanor, convictions.
• Any restrictions on hospital admitting privileges.
The Kentucky Medical Licensure Board will give out basic information concerning a doctor's license and discuss any suspensions, or revocations over the phone at (900) 555-6500. But callers must know the doctor's license number and pay at least $3. Board spokesman Lloyd Vest said the information isn't yet available on the board's Web site because the site is still under construction.
Mr. Van Vyven's proposal got a chilly response from Ohio Medical Board officials. Spokesman Tom Dilling said work needed to gather and distribute the data could draw manpower away from efforts to find and punish bad doctors.
The Ohio State Medical Association, an interest group that speaks for doctors, will try to sink the bill when hearings begin in January.
“There are many (malpractice) lawsuits that are settled, not because there was any negligence on the part of the doctor, but because it was cheaper than taking it to trial,” said spokesman Timothy Maglione.
That means state profiles of good doctors who settle nuisance suits will look as bad as the rotten apples the bill is intended to target, he said.
Deirdre Cummings, a consumer advocate with the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, disagrees. She said consumers would be able to tell the difference between one doctor who has one or two malpractice judgments and another who has several.
“If you have a lot of malpractice awards, (that) certainly means something,” said Ms. Cummings, whose group helped pass the country's first doctors-profile law four years ago in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine fields an average 170,000 “hits” a month on its doctor-profiles Web site. Jeb Fulham, the board's Web site manager, says the state has mailed or faxed another 200,000 profiles to non-computer users since 1997.
Data provided by the National Conference of State Legislatures show six other states have enacted similar laws within the past four years: California, Connecticut, Idaho, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Texas.
But doctors' concerns over malpractice records have kept similar bills under wraps in another eight states. NCSL statistics show profile bills were defeated in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
Mr. Van Vyven, who is also the chairman of the House Health, Retirement and Aging Committee, hopes to quiet the opposition by including a message on the Web site warning consumers that malpractice awards do not automatically mean a doctor was negligent.
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