Medical negligence

Today in Australia, a surgeon who allegedly caused the deaths of 88 patients reportedly wrote "untruthful" notes on medical charts to cover up botched operations. Although this case happened overseas, medical malpractice occurs in the U.S. as well. I once had a patient who was a physician that killed a patient out of negligence. He was so high on prescriptions he had written to himself and abused that he let a patient bleed to death during an operation in his office. This physician had also been doing some other unethical things, such as using carpenter’s glue instead of surgical glue on patients. Also, instead of surgical screws, he used screws from a local hardware store!

Someone asked me yesterday, “How do I find a good doctor.” One of the best ways is word of mouth. If you have a family member or friend of a family that is a doctor, try to find some way to get their advice on whom to go to for specific problems. If he/she does not know, they likely know a colleague who does. Another idea is to see if the doctor is board-certified. In other words, has the doctor been certified by a group of peers to be competent and highly skilled in his/her field. You can usually check if a physician is board certified in your insurance panel booklet. You can also use the following website: American Board of Medical Specialists and look up a doctor you are considering using.

Lastly, try searching if your doctor has published literature in his/her field. You can do this by searching at PubMed. Keep in mind though that there are some excellent doctors who do not do research and strictly see patients all day. Thus, there are many excellent doctors who have few, if any publications. However, if you find a physician who has published often, this can give you extra confidence that you are going to someone who is competent.