Resources for Checking Your Doctor’s Medical Malpractice Records
When engaging with the healthcare system and healthcare providers, it’s important for patients to know how to be their own best advocates. The best way to protect yourself or someone you love from becoming the victim of medical malpractice is to know the resources available in Florida for information concerning practicing physicians’ medical malpractice record.
Dangerous Doctors in the News
A disturbing report by CBS News recently identified numerous Florida doctors who hold the dubious distinction of being practicing physicians with the most medical malpractice insurance payouts. Perhaps most disturbing was the fact that just four of these dangerous doctors had their medical licenses revoked.
Multiple Medical Malpractice Suits and Still Licensed to Practice
There have been situations in which Florida doctors have been named in a dozen medical malpractice cases in as many years, yet have still retained their license to practice. The Florida Board of Medicine seems slow to revoke or even restrict licenses. The public health safety advocacy committee Public Citizens claims that statistics such as the fact that of the 25 most-sued doctors in Florida, not one has had their license revoked for treating patients with substandard care, proves the state board of medicine is asleep at the wheel.
A National Epidemic of Malpractice with Few Sanctions
Another Public Citizens survey found that nationally, on average, more than half of the doctors whose privileges were terminated or restricted by a hospital had failed to receive so much as a fine by the medical board in their practicing state. In terms of national rankings regarding state medical boards with the least number of restricted physicians due to medical practice per state, Florida ranked last on the list.
Resources for Medical Malpractice Record Checks
The following includes some valuable resources consumers can access to obtain background information on their healthcare providers.
Start With Their License
This is a valuable site to utilize for accessing the physician’s Florida medical license and identifying information. It’s important to have the physician’s correct information because doctors can have similar names and misidentification can be an issue. To search for a doctor here, you don’t need to know the exact city or county for their office, or even the exact spelling of their first or middle name. Once you have located the correct doctor, this site will provide you with the physician’s registered name, address, and license number. You will need all of this information to access other databases.
Florida State Insurance Regulation Site
This site provides data on the Florida medical malpractice claims paid by malpractice insurance companies on behalf of doctors and hospitals. This is a very valuable consumer advocacy resource and we’re lucky that Florida is among one of the very few states that offer access to this information to the public.
Be sure to query your search in the category of “all” counties because doctors will practice in multiple counties within the state. It’s also a good idea to watch out for variations of both physician and hospital names. Hospitals are known to change their names frequently, and physician data can sometimes be listed using the physician’s middle name, and sometimes without it.
Please contact the Fort Lauderdale law offices of Boone & Davis by calling 954-566-9919 if you are attempting to manage or have questions about a medical malpractice case.
