Show BY BERNARD GAVZER HROUGHOUT AMERICA there are thousands of ikxturs —working in hospitals clinics and private offices — who hurt and even fatally injure pa- tients through incompetence or carelessness yet remain in active practice It is almost impossible for the typical patient — you and me — to find out who they are “There are between 620000 and 650000 licensed physicians in the country says Dr Ted Lewcrs a kidney specialist in Easton Md and a board member of the American Medical Association (AM A) When asked how many of them could be categorized as incompetent unscrupulous or impaired Dr Lewers replied “Very few — 5 to 10 percent" But that could mean 3 1 000 to 65000 physicians who pose a significant risk to patients The risks are very real: In Denver Richard Corbett Leonard 8 died during a routine ear operation because the anesthesiologist allegedly fell asleep In Tampa a surgeon amputated the wrong lower leg of Willie King 52 a diabetic The wrong lung was Citizen Health Research Group “But you have no way of knowing whether one is supremely competent and the other has a pattern of misdiagnosis mi v treatment incompetence Information that might guide you exists but much of it is secret even to doctors" How then can you figure out if a doctor is okay or questionable? Who has the information? Is it secret? Why? The route to finding answers is complex We'll lead you through the maze But please keep in mind that this report focuses on incompetent impaired doctors It is not an indictment of the vast majority of physicians who are conscientious hardworking trustworthy reliable and dedicated to fulfilling die Hippocratic Oath to "abstain from harm" Day after day they provide patients with medical treatment (hat meets the highest standards of care Still it is in the public's interest as well as the medical profession's that the questionable doctun be identified That goal is supported in varying degrees by such groups as the AMA the American Board of Medical Specialties and “watchdog" organizations such as the Public Citizen Health Research Group MWMismrtottat? likely are you to be hurt by a physician? A detailed report about doctor-cause- d injuries was contained removed from Benjamin Jones Jr in Fort in TV Harvanl Medical Pmctkr Slud published in 1990 Dozens of expert researchers in medicine law economics statistics policy analysis and peer review analyzed health care in New York State in 1984 Their findings were based on patient and physician and surgeon interviews hospital records peer reviews insurance claims and malpractice suits The results showed: Of an estimated 27 million patients hospitalized in New York State at the time 98609 (or 365 percent! suffered injury attributed to medical intervention rather than their underlying disease (An example would be a cancer patient dying from an overdose of chemotherapy) Of those medical injuries nearly 28 percent resulted from negligence (An example would be if a physician failed to order a biopsy after seeing a chest Worth Tex Guadalupe Negron 33 bled to death after her uterus was cut by a doctor who was still operating while ap- pealing die revocation of his license In Boston Betsy Lehman 39 was killed when a doctor prescribed a dose of an anticancer drug that was far too high “You can go into the offices of two different doctors side by side and see an im- pressive wall of framed diplomas" says with Dr Sidney M Wolfe the Public Nader of nonprofit Ralph or or kkmako uomakd cwkttst or rue uokakd mmi nnn mmvcHPH unmu memKimuiou': auimii mmka and ararvwMW ami tr -- miiui vc tv n ci ami ire erAmmt wimu j ntn with a detectable lesion) Of the medical injuries 69 percent X-r- ay were caused by errors More than 13000 (about 05 percent of the total 27 million patients died at least in part as a result of those injuries This means that for every 1000 patients who entered the hospital five died at least in part as a result of poor care Although these findings do not encourage confidence the situation can be reversed according to Dr Lucien L Leapeofthe Harvard School of Public Health He contends that most doctor-relateinjuries “are due to errors and are therefore potentially preventable" But again the dilemma for patients lies in how to detect which doctors to avoid Isn't there some list or a gov eminent agency keeping an eye on bad doctors? d m |