Virginia law on doctor discipline casts wider net

But, the state medical society says the inclusion of a confidential consent agreement makes the legislation fair to physicians.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. April 14, 2003.

Physicians in Virginia will be subject to discipline for lesser forms of misconduct, but they will be allowed in some cases to avoid public discipline under a law signed by the governor in March.

The law reforms how the Virginia Board of Medicine disciplines doctors, changing the disciplinary standard from "gross negligence" to a simpler "intentional or negligent conduct" that injures a patient or is likely to injure a patient.

"This will cast a wider net. Some things that were not actionable [before] now will be actionable," said William Harp, MD, the medical board's executive director.

The Medical Society of Virginia accepts the change. That's because the legislation also calls for a "confidential consent agreement" between the board and doctor instead of public discipline in cases involving minor misconduct with little or no injury to a patient or the public.

"The ability to do that in confidence was a great win," said Hazle Konerding, MD, society president and a dermatologist in Richmond, Va. "The hope is you can correct [a doctor's] behavior before it becomes a pattern or endangering."

But the board could use the agreement to build a case against a physician if the misconduct continues. And it won't make such an agreement in cases in which a doctor endangers the public or demonstrates "gross negligence" or intentional misconduct.