Regulating Physicians
I would like to applaud the work, past and present, of the California Board of Quality Medical Assurance. It is foolish to suggest several thousand “incompetent physicians are practicing in this state” (“Public Is Vulnerable to Bad Doctors, Study Says,” Part I, April 6).
No doubt our present system has shortcomings and failures. However, to punish physicians by instituting new regulations which punish the accused before the actual facts are proven certainly can be labeled “doctor bashing.”
These and similar studies are harmful and destructive to the public understanding of how medicine really works. These new regulations would perpetuate the myth that “medicine is an exact science” with “right” and “wrong” solutions. In medicine there are no right or wrong answers; only probabilities of rightness or error. Rarely does the opportunity exist to actually test the right answer decided upon by those in judgment of a case or management plan of a patient.
Let us not forget that a big difference exists between the “cognitive knowledge of medicine” and that knowledge which is gained through “experience” or “application” of the theories to the practice of the profession. Each case or problem must stand on its own individual merits relative to a background of scientific data which exists regarding the problem. Society must come to the realization that no guarantees exist in medicine.
With all the technical advances that exist today, the public is not reminded enough that a successful outcome in medicine comes from the practice of “the art of the profession more than the science.”
Medicine, much like our space program, is an essential and integral part of our survival in the future. However, occasionally a Challenger disaster will occur. Should we, therefore, discard or eliminate such activities from existence or those who practice these activities? I dare say not!
Our profession is in a critical condition just having been admitted to “society’s intensive care unit” by this and other governmental studies focusing on medicine’s supposed shortcomings.
What is urgently needed is the active participation by competent, experienced physicians who have an understanding of the confusing and perplexing legal system to stand in judgment of their peers.
Only through impartial and balanced inspection of our profession can we assure society that those who truly should not practice medicine are kept to a minimal number.
ROBERT A. BELTRAN, M.D.
Norwalk