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Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, chairwoman of the Legislative Subcommittee to Study Medical Malpractice, listens to testimony Monday at the Sawyer Building. Much of the meeting focused on reporting and prevention of medical errors.
Photo by Clint Karlsen.
| Tuesday, July 23, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal System sought for reporting medical errors Whistle-blower protection urged By JOELLE BABULA
REVIEW-JOURNAL
Laws to better regulate the reporting of medical errors and protect health care workers who report bad outcomes would help prevent medical malpractice, health officials said Monday. Lawmakers heard testimony regarding the reporting of medical errors during a meeting of the Legislative Subcommittee to Study Medical Malpractice. The testimony came one week before the beginning of a special session of the state Legislature to address tort reform. Committee Chairwoman Barbara Buckley, a Democratic assemblywoman from Las Vegas, said she plans next week to introduce legislation that includes whistle-blower protection and more prompt reporting of medical errors. Legislators and health officials said it's important to create a medical error reporting system that encourages people to divulge mistakes so future errors can be prevented. "The reporting should be for prevention sake, not punishment," said Assemblywoman Ellen Koivisto, D-Las Vegas. "The purpose is to track errors, find out why they occur, and take steps so they don't happen again." Koivisto also said that, if doctors and medical facilities are made to feel punished if they report errors, they won't come forward and it will be difficult to track mistakes and trends in medical errors. "There is as much to be learned from close calls as there is from incidents of actual harm," she said. "Naming and blaming has hindered reporting in the past. It just leads to a conspiracy of silence." Officials with the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners agreed that increased public access to the reporting of medical mistakes would hurt the reporting process and discourage doctors and nurses from disclosing problems with colleagues. For example, the public does not have access to information about doctors with substance abuse problems, as long as those doctors stick with a five-year program to fight alcohol and drug abuse. "In order to get people to report the doctor has a problem, like his wife or family, it can't become public knowledge," said Dr. Paul Stewart, secretary-treasurer of the Board of Medical Examiners. "If it becomes public knowledge, everybody would keep quiet." Officials also suggested that a state agency be developed to track and monitor medical mistakes. The agency would be charged with analyzing the data, identifying trends, and making recommendations for improvements to prevent errors. Most of the medical errors are due to system problems, not bad doctors, said John Yacenda, chairman of the Legislative Subcommittee to Study the Development of a System for Reporting Medical Errors. "Nurse staffing, long hours, unclear handwriting, wrong side surgeries, these are easy to prevent," Yacenda said. "System failures can be corrected. We need a state agency that identifies and tracks adverse events and trends." The issue of reporting medical errors will be included in next week's special session to address tort reform. The session was sparked by rising medical malpractice insurance costs that led to the temporary closure of the Trauma Center at the University Medical Center, and decisions by an estimated 150 Southern Nevada doctors to close their practices, retire early, or apply for licenses in other states. Other key issues include caps on jury awards for pain and suffering, limiting attorney fees, and joint and several liability. Under the current system of joint and several liability, doctors can be liable for paying 100 percent of a jury award even though they were found to be 1 percent at fault.
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