Weak Laws and Lenient Enforcement Plague Missouri’s Oversight of Dangerous Doctors
Patients in Missouri face a double whammy of the state's faulty oversight of dangerous doctors -- Missouri law limits the state medical board's authority to disciple them, and the board doesn't fully exercise the rights it does have.
These are latest findings in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's series looking at the lack of information available to patients about the doctors and hospitals that treat them. "Leniency and secrecy are the rule when it comes to policing Missouri's 22,000 doctors," the paper wrote.
The state's Board of Registration for the Healing Arts makes public little information on doctors. The board doesn't release information on its own warning letters, on malpractice cases, on restrictions by hospitals or even where a doctor went to medical school. It seldom researches cases that challenge the quality of care, and it never uses its power to immediately suspend doctors, the paper found.
State laws also hamper the board's oversight. It's hard to discipline a doctor for one negligent incident, and unlike in most states, Missouri law does not give the board absolute authority over discipline. Instead, it must reach a settlement with a doctor or bring the case before commission in a litigious process that can drag on for years. Meanwhile, doctors continue to practice. Because the process is so long, the board often settles, the paper said.
This isn't a new problem for Missouri. The paper wrote:
A Post-Dispatch investigation 30 years ago found Missouri was lax in its policing of doctors. Soon after, the legislature changed the board's makeup to include one non-physician -- a "public" member -- to represent patients' interests.
For a time, the board became more stringent, but the trend seems to have reversed, and the board is among the least active in the nation.
No board members would comment to the Post-Dispatch, though board staff told the paper that it hands were generally tied by the state's laws.
The problematic oversight of doctors echoes much of what ProPublica found in our series looking at the lack of discipline of nurses around the country.
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6 comments
Norman
Dec. 13, 2010, 4:40 p.m.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, the U.S. Senator from Missouri is a Doctor, so, to discipline the other dangerous Doctors & Nurses, then they would have to do so with the Senator. But, of course, we all know that won’t happen, because someone pays these people who make the laws off, or should I say buys them off, so until the dinosaurs come roaring back & gobble up the evil doers, human kind will just have to endure.
KRWood
Dec. 13, 2010, 6:33 p.m.
Business as usual.Doctors are just about untouchable.A relative of mine was killed in hospital by excessive pot chlor iv. I found the evidence-nobody would take any action.ie police(note many police are married to nurses),local area health authorities(more drs and bureaucrats)State medical complaints authority(govt body),legal complaints body(state ombudsman).Most drs have been or are members of public sector union and the old ‘closing ranks’ tends to operate.180,000 iatrogenic deaths in US hospitals annually-hardly anyone is brought to book.The only drs that the female top-heavy legal panels seems to be interested in are the really stupid drs who sexually molest etc female patients-these are the cases that get in the papers and that there is an uproar about.All the deaths-well they are just a write-off.In the old days they used to say’ drs bury their mistakes’-it is no wonder that patients have been flocking to alternative practitioners for years.There are of course many quacks there and much money is wasted but they don’t CAUSE 180,000.deaths a year. The site quackwatch.com (run by a doctor)needs to refocus.The politics of medicine is ugly and mostly involves ‘coverup’ as is clearly evident in the above article.
Anne
Dec. 13, 2010, 11:37 p.m.
It’s terrible to lose someone due to a doctor’s negligence. As a resident of the State of Missouri I have found that this state is behind times when it comes to protecting its citizens from all kinds of troubles that would never be tolerated in other states.
Our legislature is not taking care of the right things and we should do everything in our power to let them know (by writing letters for one thing) we are aware of how behind the times Missouri is and insist on better. The public needs to speak loud and clear if we want a change for the better.
rs
Dec. 15, 2010, 3:49 a.m.
Apparently missouri is not the only troubled state when it comes to bad medical staff.I believe that bad doctors and medical staff from anywhere are always welcome in california, It seems anything is allowed in california as well. It seems too be very lenient here. Not many rules if any in the medical field.Such a shame, I lost my dear loved one because of bad doctors and medical staff and they get away with it. Laws have to be changed all over the U.S. when it comes to medical care, hospitals etc.Justice must be served so these bad medical staff will not be able to get away with harming and killing patients so easily.Then families such as ours will not have to live a life in pain because of the horror of the medical staff.The staff does not even have to pretend like they care because their paycheck bonuses is all that counts.The medical staff killed our loved one. Can not seem to figure it out why and how this could have ever have been allowed to happen here. There should be a website for hospitals and medical facilities that are going to hire staff that explains if the potential employee has ever been disciplined and all details or if there has been any problems with the potential staff member and pictures, any names that were used.Schools and licenses should be on there also as well as what part of the country they have worked in or what other countries they worked in. It should be available for all the states. Then hopefully if this is available then everyone will know who the bad medical staff are and not hire them. Then bad medical staff can just get out and stay out of the medical field forever.Anyway people suffer from patients being killed.It should not be easy for people to be able to work in the medical field. We need good, intelligent and well educated medical staff.We most importantly need people who are willing to work hard and do a good job. It should take a special person to be able to have the honor and privilege of being part of the medical team. Not just any uncaring psychopath should have that kind of privilege.
KRWood
Dec. 16, 2010, 3:54 a.m.
Comments are getting near the money.Unfortunately it must be up to relatives to watch what is going on with hospitalised loved ones-or relatives even if they aren’t particularly loved..I recall looking at a chart at the bedside of the patients temperature over time-it was OK-but I certainly also noticed dirty looks from the nursing staff-apparently that I had the temerity to do that.Apparently they don’t like being reviewed-but their perception that one might think they aren’t to be trusted gives the truth to the situation.I found out too late that a routine IV of Potassium Chloride 30 mmol per litre had been given for 21 hours in 24-a total of 630 mmol.To the elderly patient this was fatal.It was also evident that similar amounts had been given over the preceding 2 days..Reference books indicate 540 mmol is a fatal dose in the elderly.‘Biochemical derangement’ was found by the coroner(forensic pathologist)and cardiac arrest as cause of death.The patient had been admitted for antibiotic treatment for a urinary tract infection and as far as I know that was going OK.I think there is a policy to ‘get rid of’’ elderly patients to free up the beds (in public hospitals) though I know of quite a few cases where young people have met their end in hospital-mostly due to incompetency.Re California-I won’t dispute what has been said above.I do have experience of a relative having mva(motor vehicle accident) being admitted to the City Medical Centre hospital in Irvine CA.Intensive care was very good-patient survived-only to have had specialist orthopaedic surgeon do such a bad job that I had to take the patient to Australia when we now live to get another surgeon ‘fix up ‘the bad work.Patient now walks OK but would not have had we not done the ‘repair job’.So-intensive care excellent-visiting specialist left a lot to be desired.No names no pack drill.What’s next? ‘Soilant green’?
rs
Dec. 17, 2010, 12:37 a.m.
We watched our loved one. We had to learn as much as we could about what should be done.U can not trust the medical staff for one minute with Ur loved one and U have to know as much or more than the doctor knows. I should have been the one that went to medical school before this happened because I think I could have been a better help than the doctors in the hospital were. Even so the doctor and staff apparently decided to kill our loved one. They never gave her the right meds and gave her the wrong ones. There was so much error that it seemed like her being killed was on purpose. I find it hard to believe that people can make that many fatal mistakes without it being on purpose maybe so but I cant see how that is possible.It is so terribly tragic that medical staff who are supposed to save lives take them instead. I do not know what I could have done to insist that our loved one get the proper meds and medical treatment when I realized that the staff were not doing their job. I thought that some how they would figure it out when I talked to them. Maybe I should have called the police. Until this day I still do not know how to make the medical staff do their job even when you tell them the so called doctor gives the final orders and they could be orders to kill by not giving proper meds or the wrong meds etc. I think we the people need to get together and change laws in the hospitals and medically run facilities because it is just so wrong how medical staff can get away with such horrible atrocities as this and other cases similar to the one that our family has been through.