Patient Safety

Patients' Right to Know About Doctors' Crimes

As the legislature begins its final weeks a critical patient safety measure is awaiting its fate.

Senator Jerry Hill and patient safety advocates have worked for years to ensure patients have the right to know if their doctor is on probation for violations that place patient safety at risk.

Hill’s plan would inform patients if their doctor is on probation for cases involving sexual misconduct, criminal conviction involving their practice, or drug or alcohol abuse that affects their patients.

CA Supreme Court Skeptical of Barring Medical Board from Utilizing Database Created to Combat Dangerous Doctors


In a hearing before the California Supreme Court, Justices appeared unconvinced that the state Medical Board should be barred from consulting the state’s prescription drug database in order to discipline drug-dealing and over-prescribing doctors.
 
At issue is the unusual claim that doctors can assert their patients’ privacy rights in order to insulate themselves from disciplinary procedures which are designed to protect patients from substandard care.
 

Bill Deadline in Sacramento Leaves Patients Hanging

With bill deadlines this week, the news coming out of the legislature for patients is mixed.

The hearing for SB 572, that would have eliminated nearly every disciplinary action by the Medical Board for doctors, was postponed. Since this week is the last chance for bills to pass out of policy committees, this scary concept is toast for 2017 unless there’s an ill-advised gut-and-amend later this year.

Can Lawmakers Handle Drug-Dealing and Dangerous Doctors?

Democrats in Sacramento are basking in a national spotlight as reporters and pundits pick apart high-profile votes on transportation, cap and trade and immigration and speculate if, and how, they will turn a legislative supermajority into concrete action to resist Trump administration policies. Yet the industries that traditionally rule the roost in the statehouse are not sitting this session out.

Can Medical Board Oversight of Dangerous Doctors Be Reformed?

Four years ago, state lawmakers delivered a scathing indictment of the Medical Board of California for failing in its primary mission: patient protection. Physician oversight remains broken four years after that legislative “sunset review” committee threatened to shut down the Medical Board if it did not improve patient protection. Consumer Watchdog testifies at the sunset review hearing today and will call for the Board to be disbanded if it cannot improve. 
 

Drink, Drugs and Disclosure Day For Doctors

Monday is Drink, Drugs and Disclosure Day for doctors in Sacramento when three major patient safety bills are scheduled to be heard in the Senate Business & Professions committee.

The common theme is oversight and transparency for doctors. Will the Senate require openness and accountability from the medical community, especially when drugs and alcohol are involved?

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