Instead of suing a doctor she thought was responsible for the death of her husband, Maggy Lewis filed a complaint with the North Carolina Medical Board. But the Medical Board hid behind privacy and confidentiality laws and would not give her the answers she needed for closure.
Been there. Done that. As a doctor burned for cleaning up after (and reporting) another doctor who was way-out-of-his-league-in-the-middle-of-the-night-AND-too-arrogant-stupid-to-admit-it, I actually needed a little belated protection.
Alas, it wasn't going to happen with the crowd-in-the-ivory-tower we had then.
After I read Maggy's story, I was even less impressed with the crowd-in-the-tower we have now (no small feat).
When Maggy could not get her answers, she approached her state representative about changing the law. Unlike my "representative", former Speaker of the House Harold Brubaker (pssst - check his letterhead, Brubaker doesn't know he's the former Speaker) . . . Maggy's rep apparently takes phone calls from someone other than moneyed local Republicans. He also answers his e-mail.
This all coincided with a lawsuit filed in February by Dr. John Faulkner that took the Medical Board to court over its disciplinary failures (again, wouldn't know anything about that) and fairly obvious biases in favor of members of the NC Medical Society . . . he argued that that the pay-to-play Medical Society essentially controlled the Board.
Laws were changed this past August . . . providing a bigger buffer between the Medical Society and Medical Board . . . and affording those who file complaints with the Medical Board to get more answers about how those complaints are evaluated/resolved.
Dr. Faulkner's lawsuit was dropped when the law was changed in August.
Of course, "typos" in the then-current law were corrected, and I got screwed (once again) in the re-write.
And, it seems, so did poor, brave Maggy.
I knew when I read about the settlement that both Maggy and the complainants in the lawsuit had let the Board off too easy. The law apparently is not retroactive (how nice for the Board). And Maggy's complaint was filed/resolved before the law goes into effect. From the Ruth Sheehan article:
. . . a few weeks later in August that Lewis received a letter from the medical board noting that her complaint had been "handled appropriately." Had the doctor been chastised? Had the doctor told the whole truth to the board?
Lewis appealed to the board for more information.
"I appealed to their basic decency," she said.
The week before the rewritten law went into effect, however, she got a final answer from the board: "No."
It's called lipservice. And it's despicable.
Now, I "just" lost my job (and a life/practice in my hometown) while Maggy lost her husband . . .
. . . but I could have told the grieving Mrs. Lewis that (having appealed to their sense of "decency" and "ethics" myself) the North Carolina Medical Board has no "basic decency".
They protect bad doctors (or should I be nice and say doctors who do bad things?) and let good ones swing.
As far as I know, the new law does not address the matter of protection for medical whistle-blowers. Think of it like this: Had one attentive, principled doctor been around when Mark Lewis's physician was passing out the happy medicine like candy, Maggy's beloved might be alive today.
Take it from me. As it's stands, it's best to keep your mouth shut.
It therefore annoys the crap out me when ignorant politicians (sucking up to big business) talk about "preventive care". You know one really good way to prevent medical badness?
You protect the people who would open the windows and turn the lights on the really bad stuff that happens in the dark. You punish people who would interfere with that.
Oh, and tell me some more (after what Maggy has endured) that mental health matters.
The News & Observer says we all owe Maggy a "debt of thanks" for changing the law. I would submit that the Capital City's newspaper could prove it by featuring my story (long ignored by the local papers) and blowing the lid off the sorry excuse this state has for medical (and legal) discipline.
So not holding my breath.
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2 comments:
I blew the whistle on an out of line NC "doctor", and from the get go asked for confidentiality and anonymity. What did the nc medical board do? They told the doctor my name, address and telephone number!. I called and asked the investigator, and he said that they were sorry. He said he was horrified that the board didn't follow there own guidelines. I never got an apology from the board and I have never trusted them since.
KGS
I doubt the investigator was "horrified" or surprised. He was covering tail.
I understand your point of view, especially since the Board supposedly "guarantees" annonymity.
I certainly did not get it. When I filed my complaint against the doctor in Asheboro - the Board wound up giving the complaint I filed to him (which I really did not have a problem with) - and he, in turn, gave it to the hospital administrators against whom I had filed a lawsuit (which I did have a problem with). They, in turn, filed the documents (supposedly confidential) in discovery.
It spat in the face of all of the Board's hallowed talk about respecting confidentiality.
When I filed another complaint with the Board - about the doctor's disregard for privacy and confidentiality - I was blown off. According to the Board, he could do whatever he wanted to with the documents I filed. This is BS because complaints to the Board are supposed to enjoy protections similar to peer review.
With regards to complaints, most of the time the doctor is going to know who you are anyway.
In reality, a patient expecting to remain anonymous while skewering a doctor is just not fair. You are filing a complaint that has the potential to impact a doctor's livelihood. The doctor has the right to face his/her accuser. You need to be able to sign your name and stand behind what you say.
Once you file a complaint, the doctor-patient relationship is effectively over (or should be) anyway. Trust is gone. But incredibly, some patients expect to continue seeing the doctor.
Short of suing the Board (something I am considering doing), you will NEVER get an apology from them.
And you are right not to trust them.
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