Safe Patient Project: Doctor Accountability

California doctors run afoul of state board but keep working

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:59:04 -0600

Most of the doctors who run afoul of the Medical Board of California are given reprimands or put on probation, allowed to go on treating patients while they take extra classes or have another doctor look over their shoulder.

Eliminating Mistakes To Improve Patient Safety

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:44:00 -0600

�Nearly one in five adverse events is due to erroneous diagnoses made by physicians.�

Medical Malpractice & Errors

Tue, 07 Sep 2010 14:39:19 -0600

A series of articles on medical malpractice in Health Affairs outlines the real cost of malpractice in the U.S.

Cardiologist indicted for stent procedures

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:07:48 -0600

A Salisbury cardiologist accused of placing unneeded coronary stents in hundreds of patients has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Baltimore on health care fraud charges alleging he put patients' lives at risk unnecessarily while billing private and public insurers millions of dollars.

Texas Nurses Fired for Alleging Misconduct Settle Their Suit

Tue, 24 Aug 2010 10:40:13 -0600

Two Texas nurses were fired after anonymously reporting a doctor for improper medical treatment. The nurses were acquitted by a jury and the doctor will be tried for numerous violations found by the state medical board.

Look for Yourself: Is Your State Reporting Dangerous Nurses?

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 16:31:24 -0600

Chart that shows how many serious disciplinary actions against registered nurses each state reported to a federal database over the past ten years.

A Google Map Of Bad Doctors

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:14:53 -0600

A new online map provides information on doctors you might not want to trust.

Doctors Behaving Badly: Medical boards should drop the stone tools, join the digital age

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:01:56 -0600

Many state medical board websites are not consumer-friendly, and it can be confusing or impossible to find information about a doctor's disciplinary, criminal or malpractice history. In response, journalist William Heisel has created a Google map of "doctors behaving badly" with links to bad doctor new articles.

Serious medical errors, little public information

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:33:22 -0600

Hear from a journalist about how difficult it is to find information about a serious medical error. No matter what source you turn to, you are left with few answers.

The M.D.: Silence on bad doctors

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:54:52 -0600

Not all physicians are well-qualified to practice medicine. And doctors who keep mum about their colleagues' incompetence have their own issues.

Why Patients May Not Get Whole Truth About Doctors

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:38:54 -0600

This is why there has to be reform of State Medical Boards - Doctor gets "slight slap on the wrist" for leaving operating room during surgery.

Ob-Gyns Issue Less Restrictive VBAC Guidelines

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:12:20 -0600

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released guidelines that state it is safe to have a vaginal delivery after a previous delivery by cesarean delivery.

Prone to Error: Earliest Steps to Find Cancer

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 10:42:00 -0600

"Diagnosing the earliest stage of breast cancer can be surprisingly difficult, prone to both outright error and case-by-case disagreement over whether a cluster of cells is benign or malignant, according to an examination of breast cancer cases by The New York Times."

Many Doctors Stay Mum On Unfit Colleagues

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:31:07 -0600

"More than a third of docs don't think they're responsible for reporting those who aren't fit to practice, according to the results just published in JAMA. And only 69 percent of the docs who knew about an impaired or incompetent colleague reported them."

California Eyes Discipline for 2,000 Nurses Sanctioned by Other States

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:46:16 -0600

"California's registered nursing board has discovered that some 3,500 of its nurses have been punished for misconduct by other states � hundreds even had their licenses revoked � while maintaining clean licenses in the state. As many as 2,000 of these nurses now will face discipline in California, officials estimate. That's more registered nurses than the state has sanctioned in the last four years combined."