Massachusetts Lawmakers File Legislation To Address Medical Errors

Massachusetts lawmakers this month filed at least eight bills that would increase the accountability of physicians and their employers for medical errors and "questionable behavior," the Boston Globe reports. The bills would:

• Mandate professional standards for physicians;
  
• Expand hospital access to the criminal records of job applicants;
  
• Limit the number of hours per week that residents can work;
  
• Increase public access to hearings of the state medical board;
  
• Require hospitals to disclose physician suspensions to patients;
  
• Require hospitals to report disciplinary actions against physicians to the state "more promptly";
  
• Transfer the authority to regulate all health care fields to the state Department of Public Health; and
  
• Require doctors to report all gifts from pharmaceutical companies.
  

'Scapegoating'?
State lawmakers said that they introduced the bills because the medical profession has "done too little" to reduce medical errors and discipline physicians, but physician groups predict that "rigid regulation and public blame could backfire," the Globe reports. Massachusetts Medical Society President Dr. Charles Welch said, "The danger of this recent flurry of bills is that we will go down this path of finding 16 ways of scapegoating people who make errors and forget the most important task, which is to create error-free systems." Many of the bills could die in committee or undergo a number of revisions in the next 18 months before the Massachusetts legislative session ends. According to the Globe, the future of the bills may depend on the state of the economy and on "whether a new medical scandal grabs public attention" (Barnard, Boston Globe, 12/17).