Equitable treatment needed for physicians, patients

Thursday, May 18, 2006

At a seminar on health services in Bandung, West Java, last month, a hospital association chairman said, "Patients are our killers".

Apparently, the increasing numbers of cases of alleged malpractice have met with resistance from health service providers, including physicians, with no existing mechanisms to settle the disputes.

Developed countries like the United States have laws specifically dealing withmedical malpractice. Under English law, the issue of liability is a subset of professional negligence where, under the Bolam Test, a doctor will be liable unless shown to have acted in accordance with a reasonable body of medical opinion.

In Australia, this test has been replaced but the principles are comparable.

Malaysia also has mechanisms to settle malpractice disputes, including insurance schemes, and several associations dealing with malpractice, such as Medical Defense Malaysia.

The World Medical Association (www.wma.net) suggests the national medical associations in each country do the following to provide fair and equitable treatment for both physicians and patients:

Provide public education programs on the potential risks of new advances in treatment and surgery and professional education programs on the need to obtain a patient's informed consent to such treatments or surgery.

Provide public advocacy programs to demonstrate problems in medicine and the delivery of health care resulting from strict cost containment limitations.

Advocate general health education programs in school and communities.

Enhance the level and quality of medical education for all physicians, including improving clinical training experiences.

Develop and participate in programs for physicians designed to improve the quality of medical care and treatment.

Develop appropriate policy positions on remedial training for physicians with deficiency in knowledge or skills, including policy positions on limiting the physician's medical practice until the deficiencies are corrected.

Inform the public and government on the dangers that may appear from "defensive medicine", such as the multiplication of medical acts, the abstention of doctors from conducting particular medical procedures or the disaffection of young physicians for certain higher risk specialties.

Educate the public on possible injuries during medical treatment which cannot be foreseen and are not the result of physician malpractice.

Advocate legal protection for physicians when patients are injured by untoward results not caused by malpractice.

Participate in the development of laws and procedures applicable to medical malpractice claims.

Develop active opposition to frivolous claims and to contingency billing by lawyers.
Explore innovative procedures for handling medical malpractice claims, such as arbitration rather than court proceedings.

Encourage self-insurance by physicians against malpractice claims, to be paid by the practitioner himself or by the employer if the doctor is employed.

Participate in decisions relating to the advisability of providing compensation for patients injured during medical treatment without any malpractice. -- JP/Hera Diani

Labels: health

Posted by hera at Thursday, May 18, 2006 8:36 PM | Permalinks