PROFESSIONRequest for references can be "Catch-22" for doctorsIn the Courts. By Bonnie Booth, amednews contributor. Aug. 14, 2006. Employers asked to provide references for a former employee have long believed that saying nothing, or as little as possible, was the best way to keep from being sued for defamation. But now employers may have to worry that what they don't say could come back to haunt them as well. Repercussions could come in the form of a fraud or negligent misrepresentation claim filed by an employer who hires an employee without being given the full story on the new hire. Just how much this worry will change the way employers handle requests for references has yet to be seen. But health care law experts agree that hospitals and physician practices should be prepared to make some changes, given the recent $4 million verdict a Louisiana jury awarded in a federal lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The Kadlec Medical Center, in Richland, Wash., and its insurer, Seattle-based Western Professional Insurance, sued Lakeview Anesthesia Associates in Mandeville, La., two of its physicians and Lakeview Regional Medical Center. Kadlec and its insurer initiated the claim after it paid $8.5 million to settle a malpractice lawsuit a woman's family filed after she sustained severe brain damage during a tubal ligation. A physician the medical center hired after receiving positive recommendations was involved in the surgery. Through the malpractice lawsuit, Kadlec officials learned that the anesthesiologist, Robert Lee Berry, MD, had been terminated from his employment with Lakeview Anesthesia Associates in late March 2001 "for cause" for reporting to work in an "impaired physical, mental and emotional state," court records show. When Kadlec was considering hiring Dr. Berry in June 2001, it received favorable references from two of the anesthesiologists who terminated him, according to court documents, and relied on those references when it made the decision to hire him. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2006 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
|
Feature articlesHealth reform review The Massachusetts experience Litigation stress Being sued is personal as well as professional Comprehensive coverage
Most-viewedNov. 23 issueAMA meeting: Delegate vote refines AMA stance on system reform Liability premiums stay stable, but insurers warn this might not last Columns and series
From the vault: 5 years agoState tort reform ballot wins set stage for further battles Nov. 22, 2004 
|
SHARE
