California physicians face full disclosure of settlements

The state medical association says revealing such information to the public is not a substitute for enforcement of medical board competency standards.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. June 3, 2002.

A proposal calling for public disclosure of all medical malpractice settlements has been endorsed by the Medical Board of California, and the state Legislature is expected to vote on it by the end of the year.

Officials with the California Medical Assn., however, say the proposed legislation is nothing more than a smokescreen being used to hide the fact that the board is doing a poor job of investigating and disciplining incompetent doctors.

"Public disclosure is not a substitute for medical board action," CMA President John Whitelaw, MD, told a legislative panel. "Telling consumers about complaints is easier than actually prosecuting physicians."

Dr. Whitelaw made those comments May 1, and -- at the time -- the proposed legislation called for disclosing any malpractice settlement above $150,000 along with information pertaining to physicians who settled three or more malpractice suits in excess of $30,000 in 10 years.

On May 11, the medical board voted to support full disclosure, and Dr. Whitelaw was not happy. "The board has completely abdicated it's responsibility," he said. "Opting for full disclosure seems to me to be a cop-out."

Dr. Whitelaw complained that the board's vote to back complete disclosure came "out of the clear, blue sky," but board member Steve Alexander disagreed. "It came out of a public meeting on May 9," he said. "It came from a series of debates over time."

The May 9 meeting was the fourth one held by the board's Public Information Disclosure Committee since November 2001, Alexander said. [...]