Doctors resigned to public Web profiles

With Washington and Georgia the latest states to post physician profiles online, those living with the systems offer mixed reviews.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. May 5, 2003.

Beginning in June, felony convictions and some malpractice settlements and awards against Georgia doctors will be posted on the Internet.

The Medical Assn. of Georgia fought for a compromise to keep misdemeanor convictions and lower malpractice settlements off the Web. But some doctors aren't thrilled about felonies and higher settlements being put online by Georgia's Composite State Board of Medical Examiners.

"We're getting a number of calls from physicians who have concerns. Physicians are wondering why the medical profession is being singled out," said David Cook, the association's executive director.

Physicians and medical societies object when a state proposes listing physician profiles and disciplinary actions on the Internet for consumer access. Doctors worry that medical board postings of malpractice information and disciplinary actions will scare away patients, supply attorneys with data for lawsuits and give the impression they are bad physicians.

Georgia and Washington are the latest states to stir these fears by putting physician profiles online. But for the most part, physicians in other states seem resigned to having their profiles on the Web. Problems of mass misinformation and patient departures didn't materialize, they said.

"Has it hurt doctors? Nah. As far as I can tell, there's been no besmirching. Most of us have not seen any effect," said Joseph Heyman, MD, a gynecologist in Amesbury, Mass., and an AMA trustee.

About two years ago in Virginia, some medical societies fought the Virginia Board of Medicine's plan to list unfounded complaints against doctors. With disclaimers added to the board's Web site, the uproar has quieted. "They've all sort of just settled in that it's there," said Roberta Sorensen, executive director of the Medical Society of Northern Virginia.