Doctors Protect Their Incompetent Colleagues

A new survey suggests nearly half of all doctors don't report observed incompetence in their colleagues.

Researchers mailed a survey and a $20 incentive check to more than 3,000 doctors. More than 90 percent of the roughly 1,500 who answered said that physicians should always report an impaired or incompetent colleague to the proper authorities. But 45 percent also reported that they hadn't always done so.

A third of surveyed doctors also said they would order an unnecessary MRI scan just to get rid of a complaining patient, and eleven percent reported breaching patient confidentiality.


Sources:

* Yahoo News December 3, 2007