The state would make lawsuit judgments against doctors available to patients on a website under a bill scheduled to be introduced today.
State Rep. Lauri Clapp, a Centennial Republican who chairs the Health, Environment, Welfare and Institutions Committee, said she will introduce a bill as soon as today requiring that the information on judgments against doctors be posted for public review.
“A judgment is a conviction,” she said Thursday. “That should be public.”
They are public now, but a medical consumer would have to drive to every courthouse in Colorado to perform a comprehensive search.
Clapp’s bill comes in reaction to a Denver Post two-day series detailing problems with the Colorado Board of Medical Examiners, a state agency charged with licensing and disciplining doctors. The stories examined doctors who settled repeated cases but were not disciplined and board decisions that allowed doctors to receive secret letters of concern rather than public punishment.
Clapp said it is getting late in the session and that this may be the best lawmakers can do in the final weeks. But she promised to continue to research the issue for possible legislation next year.
“I’ve been getting phone calls on this,” Clapp said.
Centennial resident Roger Mangan’s daughter Michele died after a doctor who had been issued two secret letters by the board did not properly treat a high-risk pregnancy, board and court records allege.
Mangan said Clapp’s bill is a good first step, but he would like to see the legislature make all secret letters public. “A doctor could have five letters, and no one would know about it,” Mangan said. “The current system cloaks the inefficiency and problems of doctors.”
He would also like the law changed to require that the board send the doctor’s responses to complaints to those filing the action against the physician.
Currently, the board sends a copy of complaints to the doctor but does not send the doctor’s response back to the patient to make sure the doctor accurately portrayed the situation.
House Minority Leader Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver, said he is contemplating a bill that would address the one-sided complaints, but he must get approval from leadership to file a late bill on the medical board.
Sen. Jim Dyer, R-Littleton, said this week he is considering an interim committee or task force, but he needs Senate leadership approval.
If Clapp’s bill passes the General Assembly and Gov. Bill Owens signs it, a person looking up a doctor’s disciplinary record on the medical board’s website would also find any judgments against that physician.
Currently, many counties charge a fee to individuals who wish to view the court file and are not a party to the case. Additionally, some doctors have been sued in multiple jurisdictions, making it difficult to find comprehensive information.
The bill would not make out-of-court settlements public, but that might be added in future legislation.
A representative of the physicians group the Colorado Medical Society declined comment on the bill.
