California Doesn’t Make It Easy To Find Information On Disciplined Doctors
A bill would have changed that, but the California Medical Association lobbied to kill it because notifying patients “would erode the fundamental right to due process."
KPBS:
Is California Doing Enough To Protect Patients From Bad Doctors?
In 2011, Marian Hollingsworth needed to get a colonoscopy. Her primary care doctor referred her to a gastroenterologist, who performed the procedure. It went well. A few years later, Hollingsworth learned how to research doctors on the California Medical Board’s website. She decided to check the records of the doctor who did her colonoscopy. “And I about fell over, because he was about to start a 30-day suspension and seven years probation for a decades-long history of drug and alcohol abuse," she said. "But what finally got the attention of the medical board, is that he went after a patient with a hatchet.” (Goldberg, 9/13)