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Reporting Incompetent Physicians: A Comparison of Requirements in Three States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 April 2021

Andrew J. Fama
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Extract

Physician incompetence and impairment have become one of the most controversial issues of recent years in the health care industry. Legislators, attorneys, and the general public have become actively involved in an area which had previously been within the exclusive (and oftentimes clandestine) province of hospital administrators and medical staffs. As a result of increasing public awareness, the informal and unstructured system of the past has been transformed into a more organized, results-oriented, and equitable approach to a problem which, many now realize, cannot be ignored.

Several state legislatures have enacted statutory provisions relating to the investigation and reporting of incompetent physicians. Some, like New York, have begun working closely with the state medical societies to ensure what these physicians are not only disciplined, but also treated and made to realize that their impairment can be resolved by cooperating with those who want to help. Other states, like Massachusetts, have devised regimented reporting requirements, but have overlooked the need for early investigations of, and assistance to, impaired physicians.

Type
Article
Information
Law, Medicine and Healthcare , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , June 1983 , pp. 111 - 117
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1983

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References

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