Health

Ill. Database Lets Patients Check Up On Doctors

CHICAGO (CBS) ― You're about to undergo an operation. But what do you know about your surgeon? People with a doctor in Illinois can now go to a Web site that lists information that will put their mind at ease, or give them reason to look for someone else.

Until now it's been hard for patients to learn the history of doctors like Joshua Salvador, who inserted a pacemaker on the wrong side of Ralph Studzinski's heart, resulting in a wrongful death lawsuit.

That was just one of a dozen malpractice cases against Salvador, settled for a total of $1.9 million without Salvador admitting any guilt. However, Salvador's license has been suspended in part due to an investigation by CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago.

In light of WBBM-TV's reports on Salvador, Illinois State Rep. Mary Flowers pushed for what she calls a "patient's right to know" bill.

"As a result of your work, as a result of this Web site, the patients will now be informed. They do have a right to know," Flowers said.

At the Physician Profile Search Web site maintained by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, patients can click on the physician profile button to find out about a doctor's specialty, certification, legal and disciplinary history and more.

But the site also has limitations. Patients cannot find out about pending malpractice lawsuits, only those with court settlements or judgments in the last five years. And even that information may be incomplete.

For example, WBBM-TV reported in 2006 that Dr. Spiros Stamelos, an orthopedic surgeon, had at least a dozen malpractice cases filed against him by former patients who were paid damages totaling more than $5 million for failing to recognize life threatening complications or negligent treatment that left them permanently disabled and in constant pain.

Stamelos has denied those charges, saying "I took care of difficult cases and desperate people and if the people are desperate and its a litigious society, what do you expect?"

On Stamelos' physician profile, all that has been disclosed is a 2004 settlement for $975,000. But the site does not list a settlement in another case a year later for $375,000.

The state also failed to pick up a third settlement in 2006, apparently because it was made
with Stamelos' medical corporation, not Stamelos himself.

That's a loophole Flowers said she'll move to close. "We need to know who we are trusting with our lives and our children, our loved ones," Flowers said.

An Illinois Department of Professional Regulation spokeswoman said that 94 percent of the doctors who are licensed made last week's deadline to file information for their profile. Doctors who did not file will not be able to renew their licenses until they do.

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