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CBS News investigative journalist Jim Axelrod recently interviewed Christie Farrell Lee & Bell attorney Tina Bell about how state medical boards protect dangerous doctors and allow them to continue practicing. Axelrod’s year-long investigation, produced by Andrew Bast, shed a spotlight on the conflict of interest that arises when doctors are allowed to govern their own and keep records about medical malpractice as the National Practitioner Data Bank closed to the public.
“It’s almost like there’s a cloud of secrecy around the medical profession,” Bell told Axelrod of medical boards. She acknowledged that not only are dangerous doctors allowed to continue practicing, but many of the most dangerous professionals are not normally reprimanded by the medical board. “A doctor can make the same mistake multiple times and not be punished in any way,” Bell said. “Those are the doctors that scare me because they are somehow slipping through the cracks.”
The report highlighted that less than 2% of doctors are responsible for half of the medical malpractice nationwide. Only one in seven has any discipline against them, and almost all continue practicing medicine. Without resources like the National Practitioner Data Bank available to the public, individuals have little way of knowing whether their care provider is part of the problem, meaning more patients are put at risk every day. We join Axelrod and the rest of the CBS News Team in their assertion that these records should be made available to the public by Congress.
Attorneys like Tina Bell and the rest of our team of Indianapolis medical malpractice lawyers at Christie Farrell Lee & Bell dedicate our careers and tireless attention to representing Indiana patients harmed by the negligence of a doctor, surgeon, nurse, or other healthcare providers. Though there are many barriers to justice for these patients that are intentionally created to protect bad doctors, we are committed to representing the injured and winning the victories to help them move forward in life with peace of mind. If you have been injured by medical negligence in Indiana or lost a loved one to a wrongful death caused by medical malpractice, we want to hear your story.