Reply #12: That's not universally true.. [View All]

[Princess Turandot]

it often depends on the issue. I'm familiar with a case where a doctor 'ratted out' a surgeon who took an emergency call after he'd been drinking at dinner, a big no-no relative to surgery, causing the guy to lose his surgical privileges. I'm also familiar with cases where MDs were suspended by their institutions for potential financial irregularities (ones that did not affect the institution.) My personal favorite was a case where a head surgical nurse called an MD's chief of service because the MD was about to do an operation which she did not think he was able to do at the time. The chief ran down to the OR and literally dragged the guy out of it, then yanked his privileges. (The operation had not yet started.) NYS subsequently yanked his license. (Ironically, the guy actually was an excellent surgeon; he'd come back to work too early following an operation of his own, out of greed.) I've known anesthesiologists who've dropped a word in the right ear about bad docs.

The bad, dangerous doctors historically often moved out of state, counting on communication snafus to keep their past covered up. Computers have helped clamp down on that now.

The bigger problem as far as I'm concerned are the state boards who have the responsibility for disciplining docs, not the docs who work with 'bad' ones and let them slide. Fortunately, that's improving.