Advice on how to deal with this situation

[bucknut101]

Hello all,
I need some advice on how to deal with this difficult situation. I am a full partner in a 3 physician private practice and it has come to my attention that one of the partners is consistently doing things that are not consistent with good patient care.
Several of our technicians approached our new clinical supervisor with concerns that this physician was 1)not even looking at patient charts 2) giving completely erroneous and impossible exam findings and 3)sometimes not even doing an exam on a patient and saying that he did. The clinical supervisor and I have looked into these complaints and confirmed everything to be true.
I have been with the practice for 5 years now and I have always had concerns about the way he does things. I would consistently see patients of his with incomplete charts, inconsistent exam findings, and diagnoses that didn't makes sense. Now I know why.
My question is what to do about this. The physician started the practice many years ago and he has no superior. This isn't a hospital or large practice where I can just report him to a president or a board. And now I am concerned that I am under some sort of legal obligation to report him because I am now aware he is basically committing malpractice and is a danger to patients. What if a patient files a lawsuit and it is later determined that I new what was going on and did nothing about it? What if one of the technicians reports what is going on to the state medical board? Do I need to talk to an attorney?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

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[LightBox]

Yes, definitely consult an attorney first. Crappy situation to be in. But you know, in your heart, what the right thing to do is if this physician is truly harming patients. Don't cast a blind eye if something immoral is happening. You will always regret it and it will eat you up inside...

 

[KHE]

Hello all,
I need some advice on how to deal with this difficult situation. I am a full partner in a 3 physician private practice and it has come to my attention that one of the partners is consistently doing things that are not consistent with good patient care.
Several of our technicians approached our new clinical supervisor with concerns that this physician was 1)not even looking at patient charts 2) giving completely erroneous and impossible exam findings and 3)sometimes not even doing an exam on a patient and saying that he did. The clinical supervisor and I have looked into these complaints and confirmed everything to be true.
I have been with the practice for 5 years now and I have always had concerns about the way he does things. I would consistently see patients of his with incomplete charts, inconsistent exam findings, and diagnoses that didn't makes sense. Now I know why.
My question is what to do about this. The physician started the practice many years ago and he has no superior. This isn't a hospital or large practice where I can just report him to a president or a board. And now I am concerned that I am under some sort of legal obligation to report him because I am now aware he is basically committing malpractice and is a danger to patients. What if a patient files a lawsuit and it is later determined that I new what was going on and did nothing about it? What if one of the technicians reports what is going on to the state medical board? Do I need to talk to an attorney?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know about any legal or moral obligation but what about the obligation to yourself and your family? That person is going to end up harming the business, possibly severely. The business in which you are a full partner.

I'm also confused as to why you buy into a practice where you had these types of major concerns about one of the owners. Either way, you're in for penny, in for a pound. You say there's a third partner. What is their opinion in all of this?