News Scrapbook 1989

IM ndido ca , Thur day. April 6. 1989 octor coddle udyfi s Pane alled weak, moribund ' AOVOCATE

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V\.,COt ,~uuc., ...,,.,_) (San Diego Co. North County Blade Tribune ) (Cir. D. 29,089 (Cir. S. 30,498) - 1

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.

not be a preoccupa tio~.

for Publtc Intere~t La:,v, whi ch 1s p~rt of the Universi ty of Sa n

crea tion of a. medica l qUal~ty court to hear d1sc1phne cuscs m stead of t he curr ent phys1c1an- "The system is solicitou.~ to physid ns in the extrem~, and I think the board doesn't make any ecret about that," said Robert dominated board

discipline

physician

state's

F cllmeth , who was mvolved m

system coddles doctors, rarely takes di sciplina r y actions and i clogged with unresolved com- p laints, a public interest law center says in a scathing report. The study, released Wednes- d2; called the system "essen-

(Yuba Co) App al •D mocral (Cir. 6xW 23,500)

a ttorney

toughen

to

efforts

1ego.

and

p rocedu res

disci plinary

the as

"They op •nly describe

State _ Bar

~he

as

serves

ystem

the

of

purpose

discipline mom~or, a lso said t~e

physicians," "Although

of

rehab1litation

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is

,sys tem

di c1phr,te

d()ctor

added.

Fellmcth

See Doctors, Palf A

rehabilitation of physicians is a

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< Ulm'• P C B

In a six-page statement, \ ags- taff argued that the board's Im• pact on physician conduct goes beyond the number of disciplmary actions it take . "To claim that only 12 formal disciplines for incompetence (in one year) .. accurately reflects the impact of the board on physician practice is akin 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' group, said hi., organization would be "mo t mtere~ ed" in discussing the report's fi nd ings and recom- mendat10ns v1th Fellmeth, board officials and le isl ators. But he said he didn't know what positior • the CMA would take on legisl.1tion 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 enou 6 h 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 or suspension or just probation. More physicians are convicted of felonies each year, the report said. Far more - 715 - were on the losing end of malpractice suits in 1987-88 or agreed to settlements of $30,000 or more, and a record number, 249, had their privileges suspended or revoked by hospitals because of drug impairment or in- competence, the report said. • Currently, 721 cases consid- ered serious enough to be investi- gated have not been assigned to {

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/St te medical discipline , ¥ ~Tt ~~he~!,~~!., re orts re~meadalioos t t • phy I di ciplin y tern been under lnvest1gat10n for more mcludc. c ddl d to , rarC'lytak di Cl• t~an six months without rcsolu- • Cr.: Ln a toll-free telephone pl nary ction and I clo ged w1 h tlon, and another 1,000 ar man n- number that atlents can use _to nr olv d complain public tak backlog status. voice complamts and a special mt re t I c II r y 'masc ,th • The di 1plin budget for phv- unit in th attorney general's of- 1cian and other health profi flee to handle complaints. s1onals I le than one-third the • Requiring that the board re- level for attorneys, even though ccive notice of criminal accu~a- there 1s a comparable number of tions at point of arrest and licen ees and complaints in the malpractice claims at pomt of fl!. two field. ing. · • • Th r cao be a thr e-to-four • Raising doctors' license rene- ycar pcnod between the time the wal fees from the current $145 to board receive a complamt and $285 a year to create additional the time d1sc1pltnary action 1s funding. taken. The delay can b longer - • Creating a medical quality 1x to JO years- 1fthe discipline is court with real judges to hear com- challen cd in the ourts,2nd there plaints, a stei, t r port said have been only three ca c since would shorten the process. The 1985-86 in which courts have bar- board would continue m existence red a physician from pract1cmg as a ·rule- and standard-setting while hrs or her case was under re- body for the medical profession.

"very, very slow." "It operates by a Byzantine la byrinth of separate steps, which are duplicative and un- necessar y," he said at a Capitol press confe rence. " In the secret s tage, it a llows a ny of nine di(- ferent individua ls to recommend and accomplish the closure of the ca se by Dutch-uncle speeches or Dutch-uncle con- ferences." Kenneth Wagstaff, executive director of the Board of Medical Quality Assurance, which regulates physicians a nd 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 s taff to process cases. Bu t he q uestioned some of the figures in the report, cautioned against alte ring the current " peer review" system , and denied that the boa rd had been ove rly Jenien in disciplining physicians.

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Los Angeles, CA (Los Angeles ~o,) Los Angeles Times (Cir. D.1,117,952) (Cir. S. 1,022,423) AR1-1989

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

view

• Pat1C'nts who have complaints about doctors often have difficulty contat:tmg the board, whose tele- phone number b not ltsted m some directories, and consumer calls are handled by people unschooled m law or medicine. • The board receives reports on alle cd criminal activity only 1f there is a conviction and on mal- practice allegations only after settlement or judgment - too la accordmgto tr" center

~ nj;;;sjfy'~fSan Diego Names Law School Dean

By JENIFERWARREN, Ti~ Sjllff-Writer

The school's new dean is married to Salt Lake City la~ye_r Gordon C. Strachan, who was md1cted m the Waterg~te scandal in 1974 b~t was granted immunity for his testimony before a Sen~te committee._Char~- es against him were d1sm1ssed m called Kr1stme Strachan an out- standing t~acher," whose extensive national connections will enhance the university's reputation ou~ide 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. Professor Lester Snyder, chair- man of search co~mittee, minorities.

Kristine Strachan,t;uJiiv~siti of Utah law professor, has been named dean of the Univ~of 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 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 alumni. deans in the nation.

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.

San Diego, CA (San Oiego_Co.l Evening Tribune (Cir. o. 123,064)

APR 7 - 19&

Jlllen '• --"-- ---~------~~-~~-~~~~- "i! so law students protest racism, sexism By A~~ Tnbune Education Writer P. c. B F.sr. I 888

ministration officials said that only a handful of classes were canceled and that most c~rooms were full. Student leaders disagreed. Atten- dance in some courses was off by between one-half 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- gust. 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 USO, 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. Grant 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 USO Student Bar As.sociation, said that he called for the boycott after being contacted by protesters at the Berkeley law school. "Our particular goal was to raise an awaren~ of what's going on,'' he said. "We're inundated in the class- room with a white, middle-claa per- spective." Profesaor Mike Kelly, stoppln1 by the forum en route to class, said he mentioned the boycott in his morning c~ 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 membel'S 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. Boesky came. under fire from stu- dents 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' association, urged Boe- sky and his friendl to help and join her association.

Dozens of University of San Diego law students joineclyesterday in a nati~y 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 1 ¾-hour forum that at times became heated. Members of the Women's Law Caucus and the Black Amencan Law Student As.sociation 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 former law school Dean Sheldon Krantz, devoted claaa time to discus- sions of race, sex and socioeconomic class. For the most part, however, with final examinations only a month away, it was busines., as usual. Ad-

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