European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 4, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A a a i file but complicated surgical procedures May raise need for formalized scrutiny. A i Don t see where there should be any limitation on information Given to patients about their doctors so Long As it does t constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy such As something about the doctors sexual preference or religion Quot Wolfe said Wolfe and others argue that there is a whole Range of data about physician effectiveness that would be easy to collect and of great relevance to Consumers making decisions about their health care. One example is death rates. In generating numbers for bypass surgery new York s health department took the medical records from every operation performed by. Each heart surgeon in the previous year and estimated based on an analysis of How  patient was How Many of those patients should have survived a bypass if mar surgeon had been fully competent. A physicians experience also is relevant because in. Medicine practice makes perfect. Studies have show Bat for cardiac bypass intestinal operations total hip a replacement cardiac Catheter nation abdominal aortic aneurysm and biliary tract surgery the More procedures a surgical team or a Hospital performs the More. Successful they Are a a in a More ambitious approach a group of 12 Large or. Ate health insurers has begun developing a qua Ity of curve report card to rate the hospitals and doctors it uses. Working with the Rand Corpa think tank the group is camping each institution s record in performing Pucce dures in which a wide variation in Quality typically occurs such As in treatment of heart attacks or prenatal a care. The re Portal attempt to summarize All the criteria related to Quality of care mortality rates rate of complication infection rates appropriateness of. Treatment decisions for various types of patients and so on. V a a a a a a a a a Quot historically physicians have been relatively unquestioned in terms of their intent and competence and All of us would have preferred it to remain that Way said Shelia Leatherman cd chairman of the Rand consortium Quot Bulwith the kind of data that is hitting the newspapers that kind of innocence is basically no longer intact. The Challenge is to give  information that will help them make some sort  . A a far Many medical experts however deciding How to. Release this information is difficult they  example How much patients really want to know. A Healing involves a certain kind of magic said Arthur Caplan director of the Center for biomedical ethics at the University of Minnesota Quot patients tend to. Want to Trust their doctors i a not sure that every patient really wants that information on kidney transplant or. Bypass they want to Hope and believe thatt Fieira doctor is infallible Quot a a. A a. Others argue that not ail information is truly useful in a a a the Case of mortality rates for example Many of perts argue that the usual adjustments for differences. M the _ a patient Quot Milt Are not Good enough As a result they scythe statistics penalize those physicians who take on the sickest patients or attempt the most difficult operations when doctors1 private lives a become Public s concern m of much Shoul r patients know of. A a about the. Pim Sonal habits and 1 to professional conduct of their doctors and dentists. R  1 a i. A tons Issue was tamed prominently earlier this year when the Menean medical. Association stated that  with the  virus his that causes aids. Have an ethical obligation to inform their patients. V at the same tune. A number of medical experts have said the Usk of getting airs Tom a doctor is one of  significant of Many ticks to. Patients posed by physicians yet in virtually a every other erase the Quot to medical establishment has opposed granting 1 information to patients about their doctors. A a. It s pure hypocrisy. Said Sidney Volte. Director of the Public a citizen health to. Research Groupie a does t make any. Sense. There is a big. Rush to disclose his status but Here is a ,. Big Light Over disclosing data Winch  a More  for t a a a a a example do. Is More. Prevalent More. A a a dentist Victor Luckritz who treated Maryland inmates recently died of aids raising concerns that he May have infected prisoners. Infectious and in some cases just As deadly As aids. Some estimates have put the number of medical care providers impaired by drug and alcohol use Lack of training or other physical conditions As. High As 10 percent 11111. Translates to what has been estimated to to 100,000 to _ a 300,000-injuries or deaths in u s hospitals every year because of physician neg i ence or incompetence. In none of these cases however Are. Physicians under the same ethical obligations to inform their patients of potential risks As they Are in the Case of his in Many states doctors found to have a problem with drug use for example Are put under supervision by another physician during their treatment period but patients Are not informed to. A. In 1986, at the request of Congress a National registry of Al licensed physicians was established to record every instance of disciplinary action by a Hospital or. State medical Board License revocations and suspensions and losses in malpractice suits but through the efforts of physicians groups the information is available Only to  ally maintenance organizations and medical. Societies doctors cannot use it to  doctors to whom Tioy May refer patients. And patients cannot use it to help them decide which doctor to see. The on / tool available to Consumers is the annual Quot questionable doctors Quot Survey released by Public Cili Zerl a consumer advocacy group which names 9,479 Active physicians who have b 0 e n d 1 s c 1 p i i n 0 d b y s t a t e r n e d 1 c a i b o a r d  this report is intended to provide a starting place a foothold in Trie confusion about the Quality of medical care if 10 3- Inch thick manual states if your doctor Isri there that says rift to any about whether fas or be care is grind or poor. A s _. Bat if your doctor is hum Yuu Snow find out / May june 4, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 15 a s?1 a pc