Guest Executive Vice President's Report
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| As we approach 2001, we as physicians again face our old nemesis
- an increasing number of malpractice suits with
increasing average awards and ultimately an increase in our malpractice insurance premiums. The trial attorneys have made
suing physicians a better bet than playing Florida lotto.
At the FMA, we continue to fight feverishly for legislative tort reform and to level the playing field in regard to due process and subsequent treating physician bills. We have fought hard in our attorney dominant state. Historically, we had arbitration panels with good success, while they lasted, until they were ruled unconstitutional by a south Florida judge. We then pushed for limits of $250,000 on non-economic damages, which came out of committee only to be tabled by the Speaker of the House. Finally, we were successful in bringing Amendment 10 to a statewide vote, which was narrowly defeated 51% to 49%. All of these efforts were taken outside of the house of medicine through the legislative and judiciary process and finally to a popular vote. It became clear that if we were to succeed, we must correct the problem of unfairness within our domain. While we may blame a litigious society along with a legal profession that makes, interprets, and judges the laws to its advantage, we physicians must look in the mirror to find the real enemy - it is us. No lawsuit can be filed without an "expert" signing an affidavit attesting that we have violated the standards of care. These experts are widely sought and highly paid. It has now become a profession unto itself - high pay with no accountability even with false or deceitful testimony or deposition. This is in direct violation of the AMA Principles of Medical Ethics, II, i.e., a physician shall deal honestly with patients and colleagues, and strive to expose those physicians deficient in character or competence, or who engage in fraud or deception. It is on this basis that the expert witness program was conceived. The initial program was developed through the Hillsborough County Medical Association, subsequently adopted by the Florida Medical Association and ultimately by the American Medical Association. The program sides with neither the plaintiffs' expert nor the defendants' expert. Its function is to address false or deceitful testimony, deposition, or affidavit that make a sham of the true standards of care that ultimately harm physicians and their patients. The Florida Expert Witness program has evolved to the point that a complaint can now be made directly to the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and the Board of Medicine (BOM) if the physician expert has lied under oath. It will not address grey zones where there is merely a difference of opinion. A member of the FMA will have an additional caveat whereby he/she can first send the complaint to CEJA for review as to the merits or non-merits of the case. If CEJA agrees with the complainant physician that there was fraud or deceit, it will assist him/her in the complaint to AHCA and the BOM. If the expert witness physician is then found guilty of fraud or deceit, he/she could face disciplinary actions, which would be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank. In essence, this would make him/her a tainted expert witness for any future cases. Since the legal profession has not addressed the perjurious physician, the medical profession will - in order to protect the good, honest, and ethical physicians of this State against the scam artists who tarnish a great and noble profession. December, 2000/ Jacksonville MedicineWhat's New
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Northeast Florida Medicine Journal ·
Know Your Physician
· Legal
& Legislative
Duval County Medical Society
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555 Bishopgate Lane
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Jacksonville, FL 32204
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