NY Newsday: Patient Safety Bill Reveals Names of Probed Doctors
A new safety bill in New York increases accountability for those who suffer medical malpractice. NY Newsday documents:
Most doctors charged with misconduct by the state Health Department will have their names made public and all will have just one day to produce office records demanded by investigators under a wide-ranging patient safety bill agreement announced Monday by Gov. David A. Paterson.
The article points out that this rule was created due to the Finkelstein case in which records were not available for 3 years:
Finkelstein, a pain-management doctor who worked primarily from a Plainview office, had infected at least one patient with hepatitis C by reusing syringes in multidose vials. More than 10,000 patients were eventually notified of possible exposure to tainted syringes.
Finkelstein also had accumulated 10 malpractice settlements in a decade, which critics said should have triggered an investigation by the Office of Professional Medical Conduct, the health department agency that investigates doctors. The law will require continuous state review of malpractice records to see if troubling patterns emerge, prompting inquiry. Hannon said it would “restore confidence in the physician-patient relationship. … We can turn around to people who were critical of the system because of Finkelstein and say we have made substantial improvement.”
This new development is great. It seems to fill the existing legal loophole and increase patient safety.