=?WINDOWS-1252?Q?Re:_Illinois_physicians_prof?= =?WINDOWS-1252?Q?iled_on_state’s_new_Web_site?In-Reply-To: <1207659819.47fb6d2b0bcd6@webmail.thehuffpeople.net>
From: R. Daniel Braun (rd.braun@gmail.com)
Tue Apr 8 11:05:49 2008
OK to profile Physicians.
Not OK to profile terrorists!!!!!!!!
Dan
On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 9:05 AM, Dean Huffman . <dean@thehuffpeople.net>
wrote:
> .
>
> Illinois physicians profiled on state's new Web site
>
> By DEAN OLSEN, STAFF WRITER
>
> Tuesday, April 08, 2008
>
> More information about Illinois' doctors, including out-of-court
> settlements of
> malpractice lawsuits, is now available on a new Web site operated by the
> state.
>
> Advertisement
> The physician profiles available at http://www.idfpr.com provide that information
> and
> much more data that previously wasn't available in one place on the
> Internet,
> such as doctors' specialties, education, hospital affiliations and whether
> they
> accept Medicaid, All Kids or certain types of private insurance.
>
> That information is reported by doctors, who must keep it current to
> continue
> practicing.
>
> The site also lists information the Illinois Department of Financial and
> Professional Regulation previously hadn't made public, such as any felony
> convictions for the past five years, serious misdemeanor convictions, and
> the
> most controversial data — the most recent five years of malpractice
> judgments
> and settlements.
>
> The president of the Sangamon County Medical Society hopes that patients
> looking
> for doctors won't rule out certain practitioners simply because of
> malpractice
> settlements listed.
>
> "I don't think that most physicians are opposed to people knowing about
> this
> information," Dr. J. Eric Bleyer said Monday. "The problem is people
> interpreting this information."
>
> He added, however, that any potential drawbacks of the physician profile
> Web
> site — which went online for the first time late last week — are more than
> offset by the short- and long-term benefits of caps on medical-malpractice
> judgments against doctors and hospitals.
>
> Those caps, and the newly published data about doctors, were part of the
> same
> 2005 legislation that was passed by the Illinois General Assembly and
> signed
> into law byGov. Rod Blagojevich.
>
> The governor, in a news release, said: "It's not enough to make sure every
> Illinois family has access to health care. We need to make sure that
> people
> have enough information to make informed decisions about the doctors who
> treat
> them."
>
> A proponent of the new profile information, state Rep. Mary Flowers,
> D-Chicago,
> said patients deserve the data, can give proper weight to the malpractice
> case
> information and use it in discussions with doctors.
>
> "You are purchasing a service," she said. "You should be able to know some
> background. It's really just an introduction to a person you're about to
> expose
> your naked body and soul to."
>
> Susan Hofer, spokeswoman for the Department of Financial and Professional
> Regulation, which runs the Web site, said the doctor profiles received
> 77,200
> "hits" over the weekend.
>
> "There's a definite desire to know more about the doctors who treat us,"
> she
> said.
>
> The legislation creating the public database also created caps on
> non-economic
> damages such as "pain and suffering" — $500,000 for doctors and $1 million
> for
> hospitals. Those caps have been challenged in a Cook County case pending
> in
> front of the Illinois Supreme Court.
>
> But the database remains in effect even though it could be shut down if
> the high
> court throws out the caps and the rest of the legislation.
>
> The DFPR, on its Web site, previously listed disciplines taken by the
> department
> against the state's 44,000 licensed physicians.
>
> Malpractice judgments are public in courthouses, but many settlements of
> malpractice lawsuits are handled out of court and haven't been available
> to the
> public anywhere, until now.
>
> The Web site lists the settlement amount, the date and the county
> involved, with
> the data provided by courts and insurance companies.
>
> Springfield resident Jeri Frederick, 52, a single mother who works as a
> professional trainer at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said
> the
> criminal, malpractice and insurance data "would be helpful" in choosing a
> doctor.
>
> She said she wouldn't rule out a doctor with a malpractice settlement,
> "because
> we have a society that is 'lawsuit happy.' I don't think it should be the
> last
> word. It should be a guideline for you to look for more information."
>
> Flowers said she sponsored physician-profile legislation for more than a
> decade,
> without success, until she was able to get inserted it into the compromise
> bill
> that received support from the Illinois State Medical Society.
>
> The medical society previously opposed publishing physician profiles,
> specifically the malpractice case information, she said.
>
> A growing number of states are making the information public, she said,
> and she
> agreed with Bleyer that the settlement of a malpractice case doesn't
> necessarily mean a doctor is inept.
>
> "It's just a snapshot," she said, adding that she will work to pass
> legislation
> to broaden the profile database to include other health professionals such
> as
> dentists and chiropractors.
>
> Bleyer said some doctors, such as neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons and
> obstetricians, are more likely to be sued because they attract patients
> with
> complicated health problems who are more likely to experience
> complications.
>
> And even a malpractice judgment against a doctor may not mean he or she is
> a bad
> doctor, Bleyer said.
>
> Dr. Ronald Romanelli, a Springfield orthopedic surgeon, said the state Web
> site
> could help him in screening potential new doctors for his medical group,
> Orthopaedic Center of Illinois.
>
> He had no strong feeling about whether public reporting of malpractice
> settlements is a good thing. But Romanelli, 53, who said he's never been
> sued
> for malpractice, believes some doctors could lose patients when the
> information
> becomes public.
>
> "Unfortunately, there are bad circumstances and situations where patients
> have a
> bad outcome," he said, "and it's not always where the physician is the
> problem."
>
> Dean Olsen can be reached at 788-1543.
>
> http://www.sj-r.com/News/stories/28268.asp
>
--
--
R. Daniel Braun, MD FACOG(L) ABMP CMTh
Professor Emeritus
Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Indiana U. School of Medicine
R. Daniel Braun
"Science without Religion is LAME; Religion without Science is BLIND"
Einstein 1941
