Docs Do Not Blow Whistle on Colleagues
Even if your doctor is drunk, addicted to drugs or outright incompetent, don't expect the local medical community to blow the whistle. A new survey finds that many American physicians fail to report troubled colleagues to authorities, believing that someone else will take care of it, that nothing will happen if they act or that they could be targeted for retribution, according to a new study headed by the Harvard Medical School.
A surprising 17 percent of the doctors surveyed had direct, personal knowledge of an impaired or incompetent physician in their workplaces. One-third of those doctors had not reported the matter to authorities such as hospital officials or state medical boards. The findings, appearing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, are based on a 2009 survey of 1,891 practicing U.S. doctors.
Programs exist for retraining doctors with weak skills and getting addicted ones into treatment. But the survey results suggest doctors are not confident in the system. The American Medical Association and other professional groups say doctors have an ethical obligation to make such reports. And many states require doctors to tell authorities about colleagues who endanger patients because of alcoholism, drug abuse or mental illness.
The survey did not specify the type or severity of the impairment or incompetence, asking: "In the last three years, have you had direct, personal knowledge of a physician who was impaired or incompetent to practice medicine in your hospital, group, or practice?"
Most states have programs that not only get doctors into treatment but also advise their colleagues how to intervene. Most will keep reports anonymous. Some use the threat of medical board sanction to persuade doctors to go to rehab.