Medical malpractice and the scope of practice allowed health providers who are not physicians are thorny issues the next General Assembly needs to tackle as Maryland moves to implement federal health care reform, a key Senate leader said Thursday.
“They are controversial, but I’m willing to look at medical malpractice and the scope of practice,” Sen. Thomas “Mac” Middleton (above), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, told a conference of health industry professionals looking at the new federal law on Thursday. The Charles County Democrat is a member of the governor’s Health Care Reform Coordinating Council, and if he wins re-election, will be an influential player in implementing the new law.
Middleton expected that changing how much doctors are held legally at risk and how much health professionals who are not doctors can do will figure prominently in the next legislative session.
GO HERE to read more.
1 comment:
If they want reform, they must give people some type of recourse to perdue if the doctor screws up. Currently we can sue and/or file a complain against the M.D. With the Maryland board of Physicians- which is made up of Physicians! Even if he board decides that there is enough evidence for the state to try the doctor, as in our case, it is up to the Maryland Attorneys General office to decide if they will try the case or not. If they are not 100% positive that they will win the case, they will not take it to trial. The state AG's are evaluated on their win/lose percentage so they really don't have incentive to try tuff cases.
If the AG office does not choose to try the case, there is not much the Board of Physicians can do to the doctor, in our case at least, and they end up with a slap on the wrist. In our case the Board returned to the AG office two times asking that they take this case to trial and they were denied both times. The Board only reccommends trial to the AG if they are convinced the Doctor has made a serious error. The Board review is a very lengthy process, 4 years for us, with a lot of outside medical review from some of the best doctors in America. I sent letters and
and made phone calls to three of our local representatives and only heard back from one. He told us to walk away from it and move on with our lives! They did not care at all that the AG office would not try to prosecute even with the two recommendations from the board.
Post a Comment