Should Physician Background Information Be Made Open to the Public?
Before you choose a restaurant, you check out online reviews. Your employer might have asked to run a formal background check before hiring you. If you’re trusting a doctor with your health, shouldn’t you be able to view their background, too?
The answer depends on who you ask. In many states, it’s easy to find some — but not all — background information on a doctor. However, many people believe patients have the right to know if a doctor has been sued for medical malpractice.
Why Is It Important to Know Your Doctor’s Background?
Some people do more research than others when looking for a doctor or other healthcare professional.
Looking at online reviews is easy enough, but if you want more information, you might search for information like this:
- Where they went to medical school
- Whether their medical license has ever been suspended
- Whether they have ever had disciplinary action taken against them
- Whether they have paid a malpractice settlement or judgment
The first three points are often relatively easy to research. However, it’s often harder to find information about malpractice settlements.
Is There a Central Database of Malpractice Information?
The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) is a web-based database that includes information on payouts for medical malpractice and disciplinary actions taken against healthcare professionals. It might seem like finding out background information on a particular doctor is as easy as searching the NPDB website.
Unfortunately, the federal government only allows certain eligible entities to query the database. Some of those entities include:
- Hospitals
- State medical licensing boards
- Professional societies
- Health plans
- Plaintiff’s attorneys in active medical malpractice cases
Patients and members of the general public may not search the NPDB. Researchers can only access statistical data that does not identify individual practitioners.
So why doesn’t the NPDB just make this information public? There are a few reasons. If patients see information about malpractice lawsuits without meaningful context, it could unfairly damage doctors’ reputations. Even more critically, hospitals and physicians may be far less likely to report if they thought all information would be public.
How Can You Find Information on a Physician’s Background?
You might not be able to type your doctor’s name into the NPDB and see if they’ve ever paid a malpractice settlement. However, the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure (KBML) allows you to view certain information about a given physician.
While the KBML doesn’t include information on medical malpractice cases, it does let you view a doctor’s license status and any board action taken against them.
This isn’t a foolproof way to see if your doctor has ever been involved in a malpractice case. However, if a physician’s misconduct is bad enough to lead to a malpractice suit, there’s a good chance their license has been suspended at some point.
Do Patients Have a Right to Know?
Kentucky and the federal government make it difficult to find background information on doctors. However, in some states, the tide has begun to turn.
For example, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation lists information on recent malpractice settlements and judgments, criminal convictions, and whether a doctor has ever been fired.
Contact the Louisville Medical Malpractice Lawyers at HJV Car Accident Personal Injury Lawyers for Help Today
It might be frustrating not to know if your doctor has been successfully sued for malpractice, but there are still other ways to look into your doctor’s background. After all, you might be able to recover damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit, but it’s better to avoid incompetent doctors altogether.
If you’ve been injured by someone else’s negligence, we’re here to help. Contact our Louisville medical malpractice lawyers at HJV Car Accident Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation today.
For more information, don’t hesitate to contact HJV Car Accident Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free consultation with a personal injury lawyer in Louisville today. We have two convenient locations in Louisville and Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.
We proudly serve Jefferson County, Kenton County, and it’s surrounding areas:
HJV Car Accident Personal Injury Lawyers – Louisville, KY Office
600 W Main St Ste 200
Louisville, KY, 40202
(502) 540-5700
HJV Car Accident Personal Injury Lawyers – Fort Mitchell, KY Office
2380 Grandview Dr
Fort Mitchell, KY, 41017
(859) 578-4444