Texans Need “Patient Right to Know Act”
Texas Watch—August 11th, 2011
Patients in Illinois got good news this week when the courts re-instated a popular law that gives them access to safety information about their physicians. Texas Watch called on Texas lawmakers to follow the lead of Illinois and 6 other states by adopting a meaningful “Patient Right to Know Act.”
“Recent revelations about how the Texas Medical Board fails to thoroughly review physician safety records, leaving the public in the dark about the safety records of physicians practicing in Texas spotlights the need for an Illinois-style disclosure law for patients,” said Alex Winslow, executive director of Texas Watch.
The Illinois law will give health care consumers access to important physician safety information, including disciplinary actions and malpractice judgments. According to the AP:
Consumers will be able to see whether a doctor has been disciplined in Illinois or in another state. Malpractice judgments and settlements going back five years will be posted, as will updates as new cases are decided. If a doctor appeals a court judgment, the doctor’s profile will note the appeal.
The case of Corpus Christi doctor Stefan Konasiewicz highlights the importance of a meaningful disclosure law in Texas that requires the Texas Medical Board to not only post information to its website, but also to verify the safety records of physicians.
Konasiewicz is on trial in Minnesota for the latest in a string of medical malpractice lawsuits – two of which resulted in patient deaths. His track record in Minnesota is well-documented, but he is currently practicing medicine in Texas. However, the Texas Medical Board renewed his license anyway and hasn’t taken steps to restrict his ability to see patients or even submit to greater scrutiny.
The board’s spokesperson says they didn’t know about Konasiewicz’s record of because he didn’t tell them. Instead of independently verifying a doctor’s record, the TMB relies on physicians to self-report information about disciplinary action and malpractice claims. The agency could query the National Practitioner Data Bank which compiles information about doctors, but the agency claims that the $160,000 annual cost to check the status of every physician licensed in Texas is just too much, according to the Duluth News Tribune.
Compounding the problem is that patients have virtually no legal recourse if they are harmed by a negligent doctor or careless hospital. So, cases of medical malpractice that result in needless injury – or worse – are driven into the shadows. There is no public accountability or justice for the victims and their families. And, there is no public legal record for the rest of us.
“Texas patients face a broken system of non-disclosure, lax oversight, and no legal accountability. The least lawmakers can do is empower patients with information so that they can make informed decisions about their health care,” said Winslow.
In addition to Illinois, patients in California, Idaho, Florida, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Washington have physician disclosure laws, according to the AP.
