Greedy Trial Lawyer
"Here Are The Keys To The Operating Room, Dr. Unqualified"
Category: Torts For Our Time
There is a fancy term for turning an incompetent or unqualified surgeon loose on the public. It's called negligent credentialing.
Unless a hospital or surgical center lets the bad actor into the operating room he can't do much harm. He needs an operating room like a pilot needs a plane.
For some unknown reason courts have a difficult time holding hospitals liable for putting dollars ahead of patient safety. That is why Illinois is only now reporting its first negligent credentialing case.
Negligent Credentialing Verdict Reached Against Illinois Hospital
In an opinion dated July 26, 2007, the Illinois Appellate Court affirmed a negligent credentialing verdict made against Silver Cross Hospital. The case is the first reported in Illinois dealing with a hospital's liability for negligently credentialing a physician, podiatrist or other health care provider.During the case, evidence was presented to the jury that Silver Cross Hospital granted hospital privileges to Dr. Paul Kirchner in 1992 contrary to the hospital's own by-laws. The hospital's by-laws required that all podiatrists seeking surgical privileges at the hospital have completed either a 12-month podiatric surgical residency program, or be board-certified by the American Board of Podiatric Surgery. Dr. Kirchner met neither of these requirements in 1992, when he initially began performing procedures at Silver Cross Hospital. Kirchner re-applied several times for continuation of his surgical privileges at Silver Cross Hospital, and each time the hospital's Board of Trustees granted the privileges in violation of its own rules and by-laws.
Posted by Rita Schwab
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