Physicians in Maryland are trying to overlook the need for their own personal reform, as they aim for reforms to the medical malpractice laws in Maryland, through the General Assembly session. Doctors are trying to win bipartisan support for “key reforms”, according to Karl Riggle, a Hagerstown surgeon. Physicians are wanting special courts for health-care cases, criteria for expert witnesses and “Good Samaritan” protections for doctors in emergency situations.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller came up with his own bill, which many Republicans deemed “tort light”. Miller has found tremendous weaknesses with the monitoring system of doctors in Maryland. He believes firmly in publishing doctors’ malpractice histories online. He said, “It’s shocking to me that in Maryland, the same information [as Virginia, which publishes malpractice histories online] is not available to people who need to make life-and-death medical choices…. If you have a physician with a history of bad treatment, of obtaining bad results and practicing bad medicine, then action needs to be taken forthwith.”
It is this very kind of information that the physicians of Maryland are trying to avoid, which harms patients irreparably in the long run. It is important to find a good, reliable doctor, and that is impossible without the right information.
Don’t let medical malpractice take control of your life. Get a good personal injury lawyer like Peter G. Angelos, who will keep you informed and protected.
