After Hepatitis Scandal, Nevada Wants to Update Doctor Discipline Process
Remember Dr. Dipak Desai, the Las Vegas doctor who didn’t wash his equipment between colonoscopies? Thanks to him, Nevada is considering revamping how it disciplines doctors.
The Nevada Board of Medical Examiners is proposing legislation to increase transparency and efficiency, and include patients in the disciplinary process.
The plan would allow patients or others who file complaints against physicians to voice their concerns by making a statement or testifying as a witness at a hearing. They also could address the board when discipline is imposed. At present, patients are not allowed a voice in the hearing or punishment phases of the process.
Under the proposal, complaints would be made public when they are filed, with case numbers assigned to each, as well as a brief description. Doctors and patients would be unnamed unless the case goes to a hearing.
It’s sad it took a scandal like this for positive changes to happen in this field. I’m sure more than a few doctors in Nevada won’t view these changes as positive, though.
P.S. – If you didn’t click the link at the top of the post, you might not know Dr. Desai was the biggest financial supporter of the tort “reform” laws that were enacted a few years ago in Nevada. Convenient, eh?