News Scrapbook 1989

Coronado, CA (San Diego Co.) Journal (Cir. W. 5,237)

Escondido, CA (San Diego Co.l Times Advocate (Cir. D. 45,9001 (Cir. S. 47,000)

Jtllcrt'• ,. c e

,au

fu

AOVOCATE, Escond1d0, C8, Thursday. Aprll 6 1989

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Oceanside, CA) (San Diego Co. North County Blade Tribune ) (Cir. D. 29,089 (Cir. S. 30,498)

d'f,,.'1 P.C98

'

,

1;,, . 1&U

state's

physician

discipline

creation of a m dical qtJality court to hear disc1plme cases m• stead of the current physician• "The system is sollcitou. physici ns in the extreme, and 1 think the board doesn't make any ecret about that,'' said Robert to dominated board.

for Public Interest Law, which is

not be a preoccupation." 1''cllmeth, who was involved in

system coddles doctors, rarely takes disciplinary actions and is clogged with unre olv d com- plaints, a public mterest law center says in a scathing report. The study, released Wednes- d~t called the system "essen-

part of the

nivcrsity of San

Mary viii , CA (Yuba Co .) App 1.0 mocr I (Cir. GxW. 23,500)

efforts

to

toughen

attorney

"They openly

describe system

the as

disciplinary

pro edures

and Bar

state

purpose

of

the

serves

as

the

rehabilitation

of

physicians," "Although

discipline monitor also said the

doctor • See Doctors, P~ A 7 discip~

1''ellmeth

added.

sy tern

is

rehabilitation of physicians is a

I

In a six-page statement, Vags- taff argued that the board's im- pact on physician conduct goes beyond the number of disciplinary actions it take . "To claim that only 12 formal disc1phnes for incompetr.nce (m one year)..accurately reflec the impact of the board on physician practice is akm to saying that the only impact the highway patrol has on drivers is reflected in the number of convictions for drunk driving,'' he said. Charles McFadden, a spokes- man for the California Medical As- sociation, a powerful doctors' gro1,p, said hts organization would be "mo t intere ted" in discussing the report's findings and recom- mendations vith Fellmeth, board officials and legislators. But he said he didn't know what positioz • the CMA would take on legisl.ition to implement the re- port's recommendations. "We would have to look at the bill, look at the report, look at everything before we took any position at all," he said. Among other things, the report said that: • Of the approximately 3,000 an- nual complaints considered se- rious enough by the board to investig te. only 12 physicians were disciplined in the 1987-88 fis- cal year for incompetence and five for drug or alcohol abuse. Disci- pline could consist of a license re- vocation llr suspens10n or just probation. More nhysicians are convicted of felonies each year, the report said. Far more - 715 - were on the losmg end of malpractice suits in 1987-88 O" agreed to settlements of $30,000 or more, and a record n1,mber, 249, had their privileges suspended or revoked by hospitals because of drug impairment or in- competence, the report said. • Currently, 721 cases consid- ered ser10us enough to be investi- gated have not been assigned to

llrn ••

P c B

x '

,

,

/St te medical discipl i yster weak, clog d R E TO (A1,~ _ The 1nve tigators. Another 659 have been under investigation for more include. t.it · phy I n dt

"very, very slow." "It operates by a Byzantine labyrinth of separate steps, which are duplicative and un- necessary,'' he said at a Capitol press conference. "In the secret stage, it allows any of nine di(- ferent individuals to recommend and accomplish the closure of the case by Dutch-uncle speeches or Dutch uncle con- ferences." Kenneth Wagstaff, executive director of the Board of Medical Quality Assurance, which regulates physicians and 15 other types of health profes- sionals, agreed that the current system is slow and hampered by a backlog and said the board would be seeking more staff to process cases. But he questioned some of the figures in the report, cautioned against altering the current "peer review" system, and denied that the board had been overly lenient in disciplining physicians.

The reports recommendations

tplinc y tem rar lytake disc1

c ddl

doctor

than six months without resolu• tion, and another 1,000 ur in an In-

• Cieat,ng a toll-free telephone

pl n ry ct on and I clogged with nr olv d compl mt , a pubh

number that

atients can use to

•

take backlog status.

voice complaints and a special

y In a c ilh

mter

t I

• The dt

plm budget for phv-

unit m th

attorney general's of-

s1c1an

and other health pro~

flee to handle complaints. • Requ1rmg that the board re- ceivc notice of criminal accu a- tions at point of arrest and malpractice claims at point of fll- • Raising doctors' license rene- wal fees from the current $145 to $285 a year to create additional • Creating a medical quality court with real judges to hear com- horten the process. The board would continue in existence as a •rule- and standard-setting body for the medical profession. Fellmeth said the court could be staffed by judges with both legal and medical backgrounds. He said doctor-witnesses could provide ex- pert testimony needed by the Steve Barrow, the center's lob- byist, said the report's recommen- dations would be put into legislation by Sen. Robert Presley, D-Riverside, who legislation to toughen attorney disciplinary pro- cedures. court ing funding. plaints, a step th report said would

10nals 1:; !es

than one-third the

level for attorneys, even though there 1s a comparable number of

licensee two field .

and compla nts m the

• • There can b a three-to-four- year penod between the time the board receives a complamt and the lime disciplinary action 1s taken. The delay can be longer - challenged m he courts.and there have been only three case since 1985-86 m which courts have bar- red a phys1c1an from practicing while his or her case wns under re- • Patients who have complaints about doctors often have difficulty conta!:ting the board, whose tcle- phone number i not listed in some dircctones, and eonsumer calls are handled by people unschooled m law or mcd1c1nc. • The board receives reports on alleged criminal act1Vity only if there 1s a conviction and on mal• practice allegatrnns only after settlement or judgment- too la according to tr center. six to IO years - If the discipline 1s vJew.

Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles ~o,I Los Angeles Times (Cir. D.1,117,952) (Cir. s. 1,022,423) "p "l - 1989

~i;;~it;·~f San Diego Names LawSchool Dean

By JENIFER WARREN, Ti7,!if3 ~riter Kristine Straehan,l.i'uhiv'trsiti of Utah law professor, has been named dean of the Univ~o{ San Diego School of Law, making her the first woman in the school's history to hold the post and one of just a handful of female law school

The school's new dean is married to Salt Lake City lawyer Gordon C. Strachan, who was indicted in the Waterg~te sca~dal in 1974 b1:'t was granted 1mmumty for his testimony before a Senate commit~ee._Char~- es against him were dismissed m Professor Lester Snyder. chair- man of the search committee, called Kristine Strachan "an out- standing t~acher," whose extensive nation~! co~n~ctions wi_ll enhance the umvers1ty s reputation outside the West an_d attract prestigious faculty, particularly women and "She has practiced law, she has written, she has taught, she 1s extraordinarily well-liked by her March, 1975. minorities.

colleagues in Utah," Snyder said. "We think all of those add up to an exceptional candidate for dean." Strachan, who has two teen-age children, said in a telephone inter- view Thursday from Salt Lake City that she was "thrilled" with her new job, which she will begin in mid-August. "This is a rare and outstanding opportunity to take what is a very good school and make it one that will rival the very best," said Strachan, who grew up in Palos Verdes. · Strachan's selection brings to 11 the number of women who occupy the top post at law schools accred• ited by the American Bar Assn. There are 175 such schools.

deans in the nation

Strachan succeeds Sheldon Krantz, who resigned the post at the end of the 1987-88 academic term to complete a book on the future of the legal profession. Active in national legal educa- tion groups and a leading advocate of curriculum reform for law schools, Strachan, 45, was selected after a yearlong search by a 14- member committee, which includ- ed faculty, students and alumm.

San Diego, CA (San Diego _Co.l Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 123,064) p

'l - 198

Jl.ll~n ' 1

P. C. B --~~--~----~~----.~-~-~-~ -'i.JSD law students protest racism, sexism :21/~ By Ann"tevm Tribune Education Writer F.sr I 888

ministration officials said that only a handful of classes were canceled and that most classrooms were full. Student leaders disagreed. Allen• dance in some courses was off by between one-hall and three-fourths, they said. Ironically, unknown to protesters, the university yesterday hired its first female law school dean. Kris- tine Strachan, a law professor from the University of utah College of Law, will move to San Diego in Au- gusl Meanwhile, in northern California, scores of students protested at the Boalt Hall law school at the Univer- sity of California in Berkeley, where the national boycott was organized. Students at three dozen law schools in the nation were urged to partici• pate by staying out of class for one day. On the East Coast, hundreds of stu• dents at Harvard and Yale university law schools congregated peacefully to protest the lack of women and mi- nority members on their respective

faculties. At USD, Gilda Spencer, a second• year law student, said: "We have 16 black law students out of a student body of about 1,000. Those numbers are kind of appalling." The USO law school enrolls 1,145 students. Gra1't Morris, the law school's acting dean, did not dispute the small number of minority stu- dents but said it is difficult to recruit minority students because most re- quire full scholarships, which are scarce. Jack O'Donnell, president of the USD Student Bar Association, said that he called for the boycott after being contacted by protesters at the Berkeley law school. "Our particular goal was to raise an awareness of what's going on," he said. "We're inundated in the class- room with a white, middle-class per- spective." Professor Mike Kelly, stopping by the forum en route to class, said he mentioned the boycott in his morning class on contracts and told his stu-

dents to approach him if they felt that his teaching style was racist or sexist. He said attendance was off by at least a half. The forum became heated when students and a few faculty members debated the merits of a school-fund- ed ·organization formed a few weeks ago that was at first called the Men's · Law Caucus. • Founding President Keith Boesky, who admitted that the effort started out as a joke, said that the name has · been changed to the More Hall Law Caucus and that it bas broadened its membership to include all law stu• · dents. Boe~ky came- under fire from stu• dent~ who said the organization was a cruel travesty of legitimate groups in the law school, such as the women's caucus and the black stu• dents' organization, representing so- ciety's true victims. Spencer, a member of the black law students' associatidn, urged Boe- sky and his friends to help and join her association. /

Dozens of University of San Diego law students joineayestetday in a nationwide one-day boycott of. class- es to protest racism and sexism in U.S. law schools. About 100 students lined the grace- ful rotunda of the Linda Vista law school's More Hall at one point dur- ing a 1½-bour forum that at times became heated. Members of the Women's Law Caucus and the Black Amencan Law Student Association complained of overt and subtle discrimination at the private Roman Catholic universi• ty. Several teachers canceled classes in a show of solidarity with the boy- cott, and other professors, including fonner law school Dean Sheldon Krantz, devoted class time to discus- sions of race, sex and socioeconomic class. For the most part, however, with final examinations only a month away, it was business as usual. Ad·

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