Physicians continue to block
public access to professional historyby Joy C. Hsu
Earlier this May, Massachusetts put all of its physicians’ profiles on the Internet. Anyone who has access to the Internet can now easily look up his or her physicians’ profiles, ranging from the number of malpractice suits and settlements, warnings by the medical board, to hospital disciplinary measures. It is a "First in the Nation" consumer protection initiative which provides a comprehensive look at over 27,000 physicians licensed to practice medicine in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Physician Profiles web site registered an astounding 35,000 "hits" on the first day it went on the Internet.
Currently, a bill which closely parallels the Massachusetts law is pending before the California legislature. If this bill is passed, all Californian doctors’ once-secret records will be made available to everyone on the Internet. There are similar bills now pending in half a dozen other states in the country as well. According to San Francisco Chronicle, Assemblywoman Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, California, who drafted the bill believes that, "people have a fundamental right to know about their doctors. You can find out all kinds of information on the Internet about lawyers, even car mechanics, yet vital background information on your doctor is not available."
The American Medical Association provides an AMA Physician Select: On-Line Doctor Finder on its home page. Yet, the AMA Physician Se
lect provides only the basic credential information on virtually every licensed physician in the United States including more than 650,000 doctors of medicine and doctors of osteopathy. All physicians’ credential data provided have been verified for accuracy and authenticated by accrediting agencies and data sources. One can search by using a physician’s name or specialty. In turn, the basic information about a physician’s location, gender, office phone, primary practice specialty, medical school, year of graduation from medical school, residency training, major practice activity, and board certification are provided.
Dr. Eric Small, a urologic oncologist and an assistant professor at UC San Francisco, supports this bill: "Personally, I feel that physicians’ profiles should be made available to anybody. However, it is very important to understand that the number of malpractice lawsuits a physician has does not imply guilt, nor does the amount of lawsuit settlement imply guilt." Dr. Small also pointed out that doctors are sometimes willing to settle with their patients outside the court even if there is no wrongdoing on their part. Those doctors are willing to do so because it is cheaper most of the time. Moreover, they do not wish to waste their time and energy to go through such trouble in lawsuits.
However, on the other hand, many doctors’ groups are opposed to such public disclosure of any malpractice settlements. Many of them believe that unsealing physicians’ profile to the public is an invasion of their privacy. Moreover, they believe that they are wronged by their patients, no matter what the outcome of the lawsuit is or how much the settlement is.
Dr. S., an obstetrician in San Jose who wishes to remain anonymous, has been sued twice for medical malpractice in his career. He strongly opposes any release of malpractice suits or settlement information on the grounds that "such data provides no indication of a doctor’s competence but can unfairly destroy his or her reputation." Dr. S. also acknowledged the fact that each specialty has different risks and has different rates of malpractice suits. Using himself as an example, he said, "obstetricians have a higher average rate of lawsuits than the pathologists."
On a recent survey given to 100 UC Berkeley undergraduates, 86% believed that physicians’ profiles should be unsealed. Of those students, 47% said they would actually look up their doctors’ profile on the Internet, 31% said they would not do so, and the other 22% were unsure. One UC Berkeley student who believed that physicians’ profiles should be unsealed said, "Once the doctors’ profiles are made public, there is no need to look them up because most of the doctors will then be extremely careful and try to keep a spotless record."
"Doctors should be honest with their patients, and they should not be afraid of unsealing their profiles to the public," said another UC Berkeley student. Dr. Small agreed: "In our society today, numerous lawsuits are being filed for various reasons. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, or even politicians get sued all the time. Therefore, the number of malpractice suits or the exact monetary figures for any settlements should not be used as an indication of the competency of a physician."
Joy Hsu is a second year biochemistry major interested in medical oncology.
Copyright 1996, Issues Berkeley Medical Journal, Spring 1996.
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