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Show The Salt Lake Tribune UTAHSunday, December27, 1998 Surgeon: Record Raises Questions ously pursue misconduct. any reports of Oldroyd denies the allegations. As for claims that he tried to break surgery records, he said: “That's a lie, that’s not my perception anyway. You can’t do More surgeries than come into From Families From Previous Page your office.” Healso defended the number ofsettlements against him, pointing out that insurance companies in 1992, citing safety concerns at the hospital. At the time he quit, the only other general surgeons often chooseto settle outof court as a cheaperalternative to going to trial. A 1991 study published in on staff were Oldroyd and Lichti. the New England Journal of Becky Baker and Mickey Sorensen, former nurses who workedin Medicine found that innocent Oldroyd’s office, testified in Physicians often settle lawsuits for $5,000 in order to avoid spending more than $50,000 that 4 courttrial would require. In theonlycase against Oldroyd to goto trial, Kim Vanderbloom, 42, accused him of damaging a nerve during what should have been routine surgery to repair a sworn depositionsthat the doctor boasted about setting records for the number of surgeries performed in a week andoften operated without standard pre-sur- gery tests. This wasall well known around the hospital, the nurses said He's done it again,” became a ommon refrain among the small hernia onthe left side of her abdominal wall at Tooele Valley De Fe eu ae Hospital. Vanderbloom uses a “1 damaged, Sorensen said. a herattorneysaid. Olisenand Bakersaid that hos. ince aeaaen that she couldn't vital employees were told by the fie9° oe nerve damage from pital administration that if nadaa lure. Ajury disagreed iatled Ghout the peatlene o in pinay ards Vanderb- vith Oldroyd or his patients, even 2 be with each other, they would (0% $1.4 million. At least a half-dozen patients believe they were victims of malpractice but chose not to sue Oldroyd, some saying it was not the red. At least one nurse was reprmanded for making a casual ative remark about Oldroyd n Oldroyd’s defenders say heard thetalk. e's been a lot of rumors,” \ngie Hammons, a regis- Christian thing to do. ‘Terry Steele was one of those people. The 57-year-old foriner steel worker says he wasin excel- lent physical shape when he ! nurse at Mountain View e ruptured appendix was re- paired by Oldroyd 10 years ago heard about all the lawsuits, it in all honesty, he probably kes on the most’ sick patients bleeding did not stop until days blood transfusions. Oldroyd operated again, but the later. Over the next six months — one monthinthe hospital, anoth- er in a nursing home and the rest bedridden at his Santaquin home feeding through tubein his nose — Steele’s weight he cameto a dire conclusion: He wasgoingto die. Ina last desperate measure, his wife took him to University Hospital in Salt Lake City, where after a batteryof tests doctors had © patients he had referred to ireyd complainedofbeing sex- 0 plummeted from 220 poundsto 130. He said uted or molested. The ial apparently did not inves- te: Olyroyd, Rosen and the patients said the hospital nev- by medicalassociations or hospitals on indi- Studies doneon incidents of malpractice practice awards, disciplinary actions, lawsuit settlements and felony or serious vidual doctors or whole networks of them are, by state law, confidential. Patients nev- misdemeanor convictions against doctors in that state. Six more states havesince passed er see the results of such studies and can never get them — even if they file a mal- practice suit. similar “physicianprofile laws But nosuchlegislation has been proposed in Utah. Oldroyd had operated on her husband's bowel years before. And the physician had Such studies are defined as “privileged communication” and can be usedonlyfor performed thousandsof successful operations as a general surgeon at Mountain View Hospital in Payson and other southern Utah tional and Professional! Licensing will only ation and improvement of care renderedby physician, such as a suspensionor a revoca- hospitals. hospitals, health facilities and health-care providers, according to the Utah statute. tion of his or her license, or if a case is Whatshe did not know was that Oldroyd also had a history of bad outcomes in the operating room. Arnold, who died two doctors will be more honest about mistakes if they know the information theyoffer is agency, have to do and that’s balancing the rights of the public, the patient andthedoctor,’ said DOPLspokesmanKim Morris. To find a good doctor, hesuggests talking weeks after her operation from complica- tions caused by two gashes in her bowel, could not have found out. Detailed information on physicians is hard to obtain in Utah. While other states are making strides to provide profiles — complete with malpractice payouts — Utah laws slant heavily toward shielding infor- mation on physicians from the public Utah law doesnot require doctors or hospital administratorstotell patients when a mistakeis made. Andthe only wayto finda doctor's malpractice historyis to tediously sift through court records. But that still doesnotgivea clear picture, becausesuits are oftensettled before beingfiled in court. after Oldroyd removed her gall bladder said shereceived a letter from one of Oidroyd’s colleagues asking hernotto sue Mary Arnold's husband re- cian who also has privileges at Mountain View, suggested Loren n touch.” Known also were the numerous advances toward women and nurses, Sorensen and Raker said. His favorite line was, 1}o you want to f---,” the nurses said 1 THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE ceived a similar letter after her vas taking on patients that © general surgeons wouldn't ichael Rosen, a family practi- BY RAY RIVERA and NORMA WAGNER Mary Arnold had reasonto trust John Jay Oldroyd when she went to him for same-day surgery to repair a rectal fissure and removeher gallbladder. checked in to Mountain View for ball-size blood clots and needed fioner, said he informed the hosil’s chief of staff when two fe- Utah Laws Tendto Keep Information on Incompetent Doctors From Public same-day hemorrhoid surgery in 1990. Three days later, he passed a gauze packthat had beenleftin him. Then he beganpassing soft- C7 death. Init, Kevin Colver, a ph: Arnold not sue byciting seven pages worth of biblical and Book of Mormon quotes. “What should you do when offended or injured by another?” he begins. “Is it proper to seek revenge? Should youtake them to court? . Choose your answers carefully, your responseto an injury reveals the person youare.” Oldroyd and twoother doctors involved in Mary Arnold's care settled with the family. And this month, the hospital alsosettled, more than five years after her death. No one admitted fault the purposeof reducingdeathsor the eval ‘The reasoning behindthepolicies is that protected. That way, doctors and hospital administrators can use the facts to reduce medically related injuries and deaths. There are two types of confidential re- cords protected by Utah law. @Peer-Review Records: Internal audits conducted by hospital medical staffs on Right now, the Department of Occupa- tell you if an actionhas beentakenagainst a pending ‘Thereis a balancing act we, as a public to friends or co-workers. “If I need a physician I call a friend of mine who's a physician andsay this is what I need and hesays ‘So andsois good Hesaid Utah legislators decided to let physicians with unusual amounts of badpa- doctors monitor doctors through the peer MKQuality Assurance: Another typeof hospital audit that measuresphysician success rates, and hospital-patient morbidity and mortality werely too much on peerreview, whether peer review is good or bad “Most physicians, if there is a clear-cut case of an unqualified person working in that profession, usually the profession stands along with regulators and tries to cleanupthe problem.” tient outcomes Massachusetts broke new ground two years ago whenit passedabill giving consumers access to information on al! mal- Oldroyd ys he and his insurance company agreed to stop his malpractice insurance when he retired fromsurgeryin 1996. But hecontinued to work at Mountain View's senior health center, underthe hospital’s insurance poli review process. “The question is whether | cy, until the center closed last summer. Hecontinuesto hold reducedprivileges at thehospital Arnold’s daughters, meantime still use {attered copies of the cookbook their mother published and sold at Deseret Book, and they rememberclearlytheir last conversation with her. It was the night before her surgery, when shecalled herthree daughters on the telephoneto assure them the procedure wasroutine “Wetalked for about an hour and a half and she was in real aid. “The . All is well himonhisfeet andeating regular food again. Eight years later, mtacted them. Current CEO Steele said he has not recovered fully, but his weightis nearly back /inson said he doesn’t know how administration handled the al«gations at the time, but the current administration would seri- andheis working again. A patient who required corrective surgery at another hospital _ Suing.a Physician in Utah Can Be | Long, Tedious Process for Victim BY RAY RIVERA worth the time involved. They also say that the panel often THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE. | If you want to sue a doctor | in Utah, state law requires | that you first go through a make judgments. Department of Occupational ind Professional Licensing — 4 process that can delay your tion and the state licensing de- months network exists whereall physiciansstand bytheir brother | pre-litigation hearing with the case byas muchas six to eight | | ‘The 1985 law,enactedto en- courage early resolution of medical malpractice, disputes and discouragesfrivolous law- suits, calls for parties to meet and discuss their claims be- forea pre-litigation screening panel. The panel, consisting of | relies on the physician in the group to translate the compli- cated medical details and CELLULAR The Utah Medical Associa- SP RINT PCS partmentdefend the process “Someone is making the as- sumption that a good old bo: GET A $50 REBATE doctors, and I think that's an argument that doesn't hold A little post-holiday budget healing. much water,” said DOPL spokesman Kim Morris When Kim No one gave you Sprint PCS this year? Looks like you'll just haveto getit for yourself, But don't delay. Becauseoffers Vanderbloom filed a malpractice lawsuit an attorney, a physician and a lay person, then rules whether against now-retired Payson physician John Jay Oldroyd, a this amazing disappearlike snowflakes the case is ‘meritorious’ non-meritorious.” case nonmeritorious. A jury process has rankled malprac- awarded her $1.4 million. The same was true for the + Get a $50 mail-in rebate on any Sprint PCS Phone” prelitigaton panel found her thought differently and But sinceits inception, the tice attorneys, who say it family of Mary Arnold, who wastes time. The results are nonbinding and cannot be presented in court. And a 1994 All the important features like Voicemail andCaller 1D are included died two weeks after Oldroyd performed same-day surgery legislative audit found that a to repair arectal fissure and court — regardless of the prelitigation finding. Someattorneyssaythe pro- remove hergallbladder. 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