• 23
  • September
    2011

As a result of a new law, House Bill 680, the Texas Medical Board is no longer able to consider complaints against doctors which come from anonymous sources. The law, which bars the board from looking at such complaints, also requires the board to inform doctors when a pharmaceutical or insurance company files a suit against them. The bill was authored by Rep. Charles Schwertner.

Group of physicians sued the medical board in December 2007 over accusations that the board had abused the anonymous complaint process. In that suit, the former president of the board was accused of getting her husband to file anonymous complaints against her competitors in order to have those doctors disciplined.

Prior to the bill was passed as law, doctors in a group of complainants had lobbied the Legislature for years to ban the practice of accepting anonymous complaints.

But some have said that the law will have a chilling effect of willingness to complain, which will compromise patient safety. Others say the law is unlikely to have a great effect, since anonymous complaints only make up about 4 percent of all complaints, and the board has a policy of keeping complainant identities confidential.

According to sources, a 2003 tort reform law made the Texas Medical Board became an increasingly important resource for patients unable to find an attorney to take their malpractice case, but who still want to a doctor to be reprimanded publicly.

Passage of the bill has been seen by some consumer advocates as a blow to patients rights. Texas Watch, which tracks corporations, insurance and regulatory issues, said the law was a "step in the wrong direction" and could "endanger the safety of patients."

Source: chron.com, "New Texas law bans anonymous complaints about docs," Mary Ann Roser, Sep 20, 2011.