California law extends whistle-blower protections

The California Medical Assn. says the changes will stop retaliatory peer review and other actions to punish doctors who report problems.

By Amy Lynn Sorrel, AMNews staff. Jan. 14, 2008.

Medical staff members in California are getting protection from retaliation for filing formal complaints against health facilities about subpar treatment or conditions. The medical and hospital communities disagree about whether this change to the state's health care whistle-blower law will interfere with peer review.

The California Medical Assn. pushed to expand the law to let medical staff doctors sue a hospital if they suspect unfair treatment for reporting quality problems to the facility, its medical staff, or a government or accrediting body. The statute previously applied just to patients, nurses and "other health care workers." The change was set to take effect Jan. 1.

"What really prompted this was the fear that patient care was being compromised by the inability of physicians to come forward when they had concerns about the treatment of patients," said Brett Michelin, the CMA's associate director of government relations.

He cited examples of doctors having research grants taken away or office leases terminated for reporting unnecessary procedures performed at a hospital. Unjustified peer review was another concern, Michelin noted.

"If peer review is, in fact, the form of retaliation, then doctors will be protected, and that is absolutely a legitimate goal of this legislation," he said. "But [peer review is] just one of many forms of retaliation that doctors need to be protected from, and we felt [the law] was justified to protect physicians' ability to stand up and report potential abuse."