Medicine for Problem Doctors : State Medical Board had better quickly heal itself

The death of a husband and wife in a head-on car crash involving a doctor suspected of drunk driving--and with a history of drug- or alcohol-related offenses--has exposed more flaws in the scandal-plagued California Medical Board. Quicker action might have taken the doctor off the road sooner and gotten him the help he needed.

The 19-member Medical Board, a state governmental unit consisting of doctors and public representatives, is responsible for licensing and policing health professionals. For years it was derided, with justification, as an organization that protected physicians rather than the public, keeping complaints secret or investigating them lackadaisically. In an especially outrageous action, top board officials ordered the dismissal or destruction of hundreds of complaints against doctors three years ago. The backlog of complaints had become so bad that the Legislature was threatening to withhold state funds from the board.

Several months ago the board got a new executive director and some new, more consumer-oriented members--a good start at reform. But now the board acknowledges that after a Laguna Beach hospital suspended the staff privileges of internist Ronald J. Allen, 31, following his second arrest in 14 months on charges involving drugs or alcohol, the report “sat on a clerk’s desk for a month” and was never entered into a board computer. Had it been handled properly, the report would have triggered an investigation that just might have pressured the doctor into a substance abuse program for physicians, a board official said. Perhaps there was no guarantee that board action would have saved lives, but that possibility certainly would have been worth having.

Another disturbing aspect of this case was the failure of the Laguna Beach police computer to reveal that Allen had an outstanding warrant for drunk driving charges when he was arrested in June.

Whether or not last Sunday’s crash could have been averted, the Medical Board demonstrated it still has a way to go in effectively policing problem doctors.