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Avoiding Medical Board Complaints
or many physicians, a Medical Board complaint is more concerning than a medical malpractice lawsuit and with good reason. A lawsuit is designed to financially compensate an individual for damages sustained. The chances are very good that the physician will prevail. If not, the insurance company will generally cover the entire cost of the proceedings, including the settlement or verdict. On the other hand, when a patient files a Board complaint against a physician, the intent is to punish, ostracize, or humiliate the physician. The result may be disciplinary action against the physician, which often leads to interference with the physician’s ability to practice medicine or, in the worst-case scenario, the end of a medical career. The complaint is an affront to the physician’s competency, integrity, and livelihood. Most Board complaints are resolved without disciplinary action to the physician, i.e., most complaints are dismissed or conclude with an Advisory Letter (a warning). Even so, there is no way to compensate the physician for the anxiety, sleepless nights, time expended, and costs that are part and parcel of a Board complaint. In the final analysis, Board complaints are best avoided. The purpose of this short article is to consider some practical ways to decrease the likelihood of receiving that Board letter in the first place. Note that this is not legal advice and may not directly apply to any individual or circumstance (the usual disclaimer).
1. Behavior Physicians know they must behave professionally and conscientiously when dealing with any matters related to medicine. But what about behaviors during off hours when the physician is not on duty and has no professional commitments? Sorry, but the expectations regarding physician behavior do not change very much whether you 24
ARIZONA PHYSICIAN | Summer 2020
are working or not. The bottom line is that your conduct is held to a higher standard. That is the price of being a professional - the price we pay for being granted the privilege of practicing medicine. First, do not drink and drive. Not a drop. You do not want to have alcohol on your breath when you drive. Most people believe their blood alcohol must equal or exceed 0.08 to be convicted of DUI. That is incorrect. The combination of impairment and almost any level of blood alcohol is likely to precipitate an arrest and charge for DUI because the law is unforgiving, “impaired to the slightest degree.”1 Once charged, the physician has 10 business days to report the infraction to the Medical Board. And do not forget to report because failure to do so creates an act of unprofessional conduct by itself. The self-report leads to a Board complaint and an investigation. The physician may be sent for a local evaluation or an expensive multi-day stay in an out-of-state facility. The case can result in a practice restriction or required monitoring and testing for two to five years. My solution is to drink absolutely no alcohol if I am going to drive. Or have a designated driver. Having seen the pain that physicians endure after a DUI case, I stay away from alcohol entirely when I drive. And you should too. Here are a few other behaviors to avoid. Refrain from physical assault or domestic violence. Your neighbors could call the police. Be very careful about dating or engaging in sexual conduct with former or current patients. Take a close look at the Medical Board’s rules before you do. 2 Avoid unprofessional conduct in your medical practice. Keep patient confidences and limit storytelling in the staff lounge. Do not ignore your patients. If you are going to discharge a patient, be careful to take the appropriate steps or risk charges of patient abandonment. Do not let incomplete or unsigned charts pile up at the hospital or the
