Texas Consumer Group Says It Will Push for Medical Errors To Be Made Public
Consumer group Texas Watch said Dec. 17 that it will urge state lawmakers next year to make medical error information and physicians' disciplinary action records more accessible to the public, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. Announcing its 2003 agenda, Texas Watch said it will push for legislation that would increase public access to medical error information about physicians and hospitals, add patient representatives to the state's Board of Medical Examiners and increase the board's funding for complaint investigations. However, the group said it would not support caps for damage awards in medical malpractice lawsuits, saying such legislation would "harm patients," the Star-Telegram reports. Dr. Joe Cunningham of the Texas Medical Association expressed concern that providing disciplinary information on doctors and hospitals without "putting it in context could be harmful," according to the Star-Telegram. Cunningham said, "If people made those mistakes because of negligence or they acted unprofessionally, we don't want to shield those people. ... But we do want to create an environment where we can create systemic fixes" (Ayala, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 12/18).
A HealthCast of an audioconference to discuss a recent study on public and physician perception of medical errors is available online.
In addition, a HealthCast of an initiative to publicly disclose hospital quality information is available online.
