The New York Times yesterday published an article titled, “Incompetent Physicians Are Rarely Reported as Law Requires” which suggests that health maintenance organizations (H.M.O.’s) and hospitals rarely report incompetent doctors to the government as they are required to.
According to the article, “in the last decade, 84 percent of H.M.O.’s and 60 percent of hospitals never reported a single ‘adverse action’ to the government.” Ask yourself, do I know anyone who has suffered an “adverse reaction” while in an HMO or hospital setting in the past decade?
The Times reported that a “low level of reporting occurred even though a government study found that tens of thousands of Americans die each year because of medical errors.” The Times suggested what Ian Grassam, D.C. had said several years ago, HMO’s do not provide “health maintenance,” they provide “cost maintenance.” Helping individuals maintain health is something chiropractors do.
New York Times: Incompetent Physicians Are Rarely Reported as Law Requires
(The N.Y. Times website requires you to subscribe for free in order to view content. This article is worth taking the time to do so.)
ABC News: HMOs Not Protecting Patients – Managed Care Fails to Report Doctors
MSNBC: ‘Problem’ doctors often not reported – HMOs fail to inform government of all disciplinary actions
(Both links supply the same article, we just want you to have the best opportunity for availability)
Update 5/30
Yahoo News released an article today on this same topic.
Yahoo News: Inept Doctors Not Being Identified As Required
MSNBC has joined in with commentary: “Recent studies suggest that medical mistakes cause more deaths than gun violence, bus crashes and airplane accidents combined.”
MSNBC: Does your doctor have skeletons in the closet?
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planetc1.com-news @ 12:18 pm | Article ID: 991163900
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