by Mindy Aguon, KUAM News Friday, September 22, 2006 Subscribe to Mindy's newsfeed   E-mail this article Printable version KUAM Toolbar Web Widgets Get RSS headlines

Every day island residents visit their physicians, putting their health in the hands of people they trust. But getting information on whether a doctor has been disciplined has been nearly impossible for members of the Guam Board of Medical Examiners. In fact, concerns have been raised about the Guam Memorial Hospital's lack of meeting federal reporting requirements on malpractice cases and settlements by its physicians.

The recent application of an off-island physician has raised concerns by the Guam Board of Medical Examiners on access to a doctor's background in medicine. Board chair Dr. Jerone Landstrom says in order to ensure the safe practice of medicine, the board must be able to interact with other agencies that have information on disciplinary action or settlement or judgments for medical errors or malpractice claims. "If we're not given that information, we cannot meet our mandate by the people of Guam to ensure that a particular provider is practicing medicine safely," he explained.

Dr. Landstrom says federal law requires that all judgments and settlements relative to malpractice claims be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank. He was shocked to learn from GMH officials that relying on a 1999 legal opinion, Guam's only public hospital has not been reporting. And doesn't believe it needs to.

Landstrom reacted, "That's completely erroneous! The letter was sent out and penned by an attorney and signed by me brings that point out and it says you need to report, you need to provide this information sot he board can do their job and ensure the safety of the public." The board chair says the information would ensure the public knows if a physician has a questionable history with his or her medical practice. At this point he contends there's no way to determine if a physician was sued or made medical errors in the past.

Additionally Dr. Landstrom says the board cannot verify if a physician is completely truthful in his or her application for licensure or renewal. After requesting the information from the hospital, the board is pursuing legal action with its attorney. "He's working on a subpoena so we can get that information. We shouldn't have to do that," stated the physician. "We should be able to share information back and forth equally and it just looks like another stumbling block for us to do our job."

GMH quality management administrator/risk manager Ray Vega, however, has a different take on federal reporting requirements. He maintains the agency is not required to report to the Guam Board of Medical Examiners unless a physician has had his/her hospital privileges suspended or taken away for more than thirty days or if the restriction, suspension, or termination of privileges is a result of peer review. Vega added that GMH does not report to the NPDB because the hospital believes that medical settlements made on behalf of GMH are not considered reportable under the system's requirements.

Additionally GMH administrator Peter John Camacho tells KUAM News the hospital is willing to provide the information requested by the board, but he has an obligation to ensure the privacy of physicians to prevent the hospital from being sued for releasing information.