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AAOS members call for expert witness disciplinary program
AAOS leadership said disciplinary program is under development, should be more effective than any other medical association.
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SAN FRANCISCO — Several members of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons attending the 71st Annual Meeting, here, participated in a lively open forum designed to let the academy’s top officials know about health policy and practice issues that concern its membership.
The hottest topic was the need for the AAOS to develop an expert witness testimony policy that disciplines orthopedists who give false or misleading testimony in medical malpractice cases.
Political action committees, binding arbitration and changes in Medicare payments for skilled nursing were among other topics discussed during the hour-long session. Fielding the questions were AAOS president James H. Herndon, MD, first vice president Robert W. Bucholz, MD, and second vice president Stuart L. Weinstein, MD. AAOS director of medical affairs William W. Tipton Jr., MD, moderated.
Independent medical evaluations, when orthopedists may give favorable opinions to help the insurance company that employs them, concerned one member who cited cases where board-certified orthopedists from other states served as evaluators in his state and where one expert’s opinion “defied common sense.”
Ethical behavior
He asked the academy to consider “controlling these people, demanding that … their behavior conform with ethical standards because this doesn’t make any of us look good.”
David A. Halsey, MD, who heads the AAOS committee developing an expert witness testimony program, responded: “the academy has spoken and the board of directors has responded by developing a multipoint program for addressing the issues of expert medical testimony and certainly independent medical evaluations come under that area.”
Halsey’s group is considering including in its program ethical
statements, expert witness assessments, bylaws impacting an offender’s
standing with his or her state medical board, and a disciplinary process.
“Within the next several months we will be presenting a formal plan …
to the board for its further deliberation,” Halsey said.
In a statement read on behalf of the Florida Orthopaedic Society, Brian S. Ziegler, MD, of Rockledge, Fla., asked how orthopedists can expect legislators to be aggressive in resolving the malpractice crisis when “our own organization is allowing the cancer within to fester, significantly contributing to our own malpractice woes?” He was referring to false and misleading expert testimony given by academy members.
Ziegler urged that the problem be addressed now. “Other organizations have this in place already,” he said, citing an American Association of Neurological Surgeons program. “I’m here before you today in an attempt to put the leadership of the AAOS on notice. The expert witness disciplinary program is one we want, need and demand implemented now.”
Ziegler’s comments received thunderous applause and a standing ovation. Tipton said the message was clear and “the board leadership will take this under advice.”
Bucholz called for patience while the plan is being finalized, “which we hope will be the most effective plan of any medical association in the country.”
The role of binding arbitration in medical liability reform was debated, including having patients sign agreements to avoid litigation, one of many solutions, according to Weinstein. “It’s certainly one that should be considered.” Although a secondary kind of reform, “binding arbitration can obviously be an effective method,” Herndon said.