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Medical Malpractice Suits Against Vascular Surgeons Increase:
Medical malpractice suits against vascular surgeons continue to increase in this country. Rendering an opinion, "Although recently there has been a focus upon initiating tort reform on a national level, little has been accomplished," said O. William Brown, MD, JD, Chief, Division of Vascular Surgery, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak Michigan, Interim Chief, Division of Vascular Surgery, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Surgeon in Chief, Division of Vascular Surgery, Detroit Medical Center, Adjunct Professor of Law, Michigan State University College of Law, who spoke to an audience of vascular surgeons and other healthcare providers in New York today at VEITHsymposium™.
Brown said that this failure has most often been the result of an inability of the "lawyers" who comprise the majority of the membership of the legislative bodies in this country to compose a statute that both addresses the concerns of physicians and does not alter the existing legal system. "It is therefore imperative that the members of the medical profession, and in particular, vascular surgeons, assume a leadership role in implementing significant changes in how medical malpractice law suits are filed and pursued," Brown said.
Emphasizing that vascular surgeons must meticulously review the testimony of experts for inconsistencies and outright untruths, Brown noted that this testimony must be preserved in a database accessible to vascular surgeons. Pointing out when untruths are identified, their authors must be reported to the American College of Surgeons and to
specific vascular societies, and that individuals providing inaccurate or purely false testimony must be at the least suspended, and perhaps expelled from these societies.
Referring to the newly created primary certificate in Vascular Surgery, Brown said, "Vascular surgeons must continue to emphasize the specialty status, as opposed to subspecialty status, of their profession. The establishment of the primary certificate in Vascular Surgery, though an appropriate initial step, unfortunately falls far short of the ultimate goal. In many states, the lack of an independent Board of Vascular Surgery has resulted in cardiac surgeons and general surgeons being permitted to give testimony against vascular surgeons. Unfortunately, since Vascular Surgery falls under the American Board of Surgery, it is still considered by many to be a part of General Surgery. The best method of preventing testimony by non vascular surgeons against trained vascular surgeons is to more clearly define Vascular Surgery as a distinct specialty by establishing a separate and independent American Board of Vascular Surgery." Brown said that the diagnosis and treatment of vascular disease must not be a hobby, but, as in the case of vascular surgeons, a lifetime devotion. Brown continued saying that it is the responsibility of the vascular surgical community to utilize any and all means to make this distinction clear to other physicians, the legal community, and to the public at large. "The establishment of Vascular Surgery as a distinct and independent specialty will go a long way to decrease both the number of malpractice suits, as well as the incidence of inaccurate testimony in cases involving trained and certified vascular surgeons," Brown concluded.
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