Medical Injustice in the US

We have two more examples this week of just how lax oversight of doctors is in the US compared to other countries.

1. Should it take 16 years to bring a doctor to account for encouraging opioid abuse and trading sex for drugs? Apparently, the State of Ohio thinks that’s OK. Perhaps the doctor was a major Republican donor? Who knows. In any case, his know record of abuse goes back to 2007 and his license to practice medicine was finally revoked on January 16th of this year (2023).(1)
   
   One patient, or perhaps we should say victim, who became addicted to benzos prescribed by this doctor had to be hospitalized after her weight dropped to a mere 80 pounds. This is an adult, not a child. The doctor ignored drug company warnings and the results of drug tests, and even requests by patients to reduce dosage of opioids.
   
2. The second case involves Utah. Some 94 women accused a doctor of misconduct and sexual abuse of patients. The judge tossed the case. Apparently, under Utah law, that offense is of less importance than a botched root canal. (There may be slight hyperbole in that statement, but apparently, not much.)(2)
   
   There are other cases in the Utah courts regarding doctors drugging and abusing patients, including children. In one case, it took Utah 5 years to bring a doctor to justice for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old. (3)
   
   Utah state law allows registered sex offenders to hold medical licenses.
   
   It gets worse. According to the Atlanta Journal investigation, a fertility specialist who faced 21 felony counts of abuse of patients and staff was allowed to retain his license after counseling and a probationary period.
   

The US medical system gives patients no tools to use in shopping for a doctor. The AMA in Pennsylvania a few years ago even fought against a proposal that would have reduced the cost of malpractice insurance because it would have required releasing negative information about doctors to the public. How is that position ethically justifiable?

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution actually rates states on their enforcement of laws against doctors. (7) In my experience, Utah’s score of 47 out of 100 isn’t acceptable.(4) Unfortunately, there are four states that are worse.

Ohio has a better overall rating than Utah. Almost anyplace would. However, Ohio fails on criminal misconduct by doctors.(5)

There are only five states in the US that have overall scores of 70 or higher.(6) Delaware leads the country with a score of 91. It’s followed at some distance by Texas, California, Minnesota and Maryland, although Minnesota fails at enforcement against medical criminal misconduct.

The five worst states are Utah, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Louisiana and Mississippi.

That’s just wrong.

Sources:

1. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/988784?ecd=mkm_ret_230304_mscpmrk_neuro_pain&uac=446438BR&impID=5214481
2. https://www.propublica.org/article/94-utah-women-sue-obgyn-for-sexual-assault-judge-tosses-case
3. https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/06/26/woman-sues-utah-hospital/
   https://www.deseret.com/2019/6/26/20676533/sexual-abuse-victim-sues-utah-hospital-saying-it-could-have-prevented-her-assault-by-a-doctor
4. https://doctors.ajc.com/states/utah_sex_abuse/
5. https://doctors.ajc.com/states/ohio_sex_abuse/
6. https://doctors.ajc.com/states/
7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d64Q3wSkozA&t=5s