Internal Hospital Investigation

meowzbark · Jan 22, 2014

If a doctor wanted to raise an investigation concerning the practices of another doctor, who would he need to contact? The patient did not die and the family is not supporting the investigation; however, several staff members involved with the doctor in question did resign/relocate.

Would he need to have the staff members who resigned/relocated detail their suspicions on the malpractice before an internal investigation would take place or are all requests automatically investigated?

Is the TV series Monday Morning accurate at all in regards to this?

Also, this is a background plot of a non POV character that happens during the time frame of the main story. Most of these events (if not all) will happen off the page. I'm looking for accuracy more than details. Thanks!

WeaselFire · Jan 22, 2014

Hospital medical director or State Licensing board.

Jeff

GradyHendrix · Jan 22, 2014

A hospital is unlikely to investigate malpractice unless there is a pattern. Usually things like that are handled by the Ethics Committee. There is also the Morbidity and Mortality Meetings that go over strange deaths or occurrences, but those are peer-group meetings, not investigations.

Atul Gawande is a terrific medical writer who covers this kind of thing and writes about hospital procedures in a really accessible style.

And article on malpractice he wrote is here:
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/11/14/051114fa_fact_gawande?currentPage=all

And a list of all his articles are here:
http://gawande.com/articles

It would be far more likely that a private malpractice suit brought by the family of the victim would have the money and resources and staff and time to pursue interviews with doctors who are now living all over and were involved in a long-ago incident.

pkbax · Jan 23, 2014

It also depends on the exact circumstances of the situation. Even if the patient did not die, there are certain regulations for "Near Misses" that have to be reported to outside accrediting agencies.

If it does not have to be reported but there is a concern, the doctor could report it to the Medical Director (aka Chief of Staff in some hospitals) or any higher-up within the service of the physician involved. Also, again for incidents that do not require reporting, most credentialing agencies have methods of reporting directly to them - frequently anonymously if desired.

Internal Hospital Investigation

meowzbark

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member

GradyHendrix

New kid, be gentle!

pkbax

It's nap time, right?