ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 TAG: 9611050058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
BOSTON
IN MASSACHUSETTS, information on malpractice payouts and physicians' criminal records will become public. In some cases, doctors argue, more information is needed.
For all you know, you doctor has paid several malpractice claims, been convicted of a crime and lost his privileges at a hospital. But until this week, you had little chance of finding out any of that.
On Thursday, Massachusetts becomes the first state to release information about malpractice payouts, disciplinary actions against doctors and physicians' criminal records.
Other states are considering similar disclosure laws, including Florida, California, Wisconsin and New York.
The move is ``truly a revolutionary step,'' said Deirdre Cummings, consumer affairs director for the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, which fought for the disclosure bill signed in August.
``It puts for the first time a lot of information that was kept behind closed doors into the hands of consumers, and they can use that information as one tool to choose a physician.''
Anyone who wants information on a doctor's history - good and bad - can call the Board of Registration in Medicine's toll-free hot line and get up to 10 profiles faxed or mailed to them free.
Hospitals, HMOs and malpractice insurers also want the information, said Wayne Mastin, who is in charge of the project.
A more abiding controversy is whether malpractice information should be released at all. Doctors generally have opposed it, arguing that excellent physicians in risky specialties may draw more malpractice claims.
Doctors ``will begin to avoid high-risk patients,'' said Dr. Leonard Morse, an internist and infectious-diseases specialist in Worcester.
Morse, who said he has never been sued for malpractice, also worries about doctor stress, noting that about 100 American doctors committed suicide last year. ``If you're doing everything you can and you get sued, it's a devastating experience,'' Morse said.
Such misgivings are widespread. But after the Massachusetts Medical Society fought off a bill that would have required disclosure of all complaints and malpractice claims, proven or not, the doctors group decided to back its own, milder initiative.
``We wanted to release information about physicians that made sense, was put into perspective, that was understandable by patients, and that was accurate and fair to physicians,'' said Dr. Joseph Heyman, the group's president.
The doctor profiles list only those malpractice claims that have resulted in a payment. The malpractice section also compares doctors within a specialty and classifies each liability payment as average, above average or below average for that specialty. It does not give actual dollar amounts.
Morse, however, said it would be better for doctors if the profiles distinguished between settlements and actual malpractice verdicts, where a jury has found a doctor negligent.
Even when a doctor has done nothing wrong, his malpractice insurer may decide to settle for a modest sum, such as $50,000, because it would cost more to go to court.
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB