Texas Malpractice - Medical Board called lax

A Texas consumer watchdog group on Monday lambasted the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners as one of the primary causes of spikes in medical malpractice premiums.
Public Citizen cited research indicating that "repeat offender" - Bad doctors are responsible for the bulk of malpractice payments, and are not being disciplined by the medical examiners board.

"The long-term problem is a crisis of medical negligence," said Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group. "If the state medical board remains unwilling or unable to seriously discipline doctors with multiple malpractice payouts, then the terrible human and financial costs will continue to cause preventable deaths and injuries.".

Tom "Smitty" Smith, director of Public Citizen's Texas office, said the group has written a letter to the medical examiners board requesting investigations of 272 doctors who have lost or settled four or more malpractice cases but have not been disciplined in the past 12 years.

According to the group's report, medical errors caused between 3,260 and 7,261 preventable deaths each year from Sept. 1, 1990, to Sept. 31, 2002. During that period, 51.3 percent of malpractice payouts were caused by 6.5 percent of Texas doctors with two or more malpractice claims.


Source: April Castro
Associated Press 02/11/2003

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