In recent posts, we’ve mentioned the physician discipline process as something that can be taken advantage of by patients who have been harmed by a negligent provider but who are unable to pursue medical malpractice litigation. As we noted, an attorney is not needed to file a complaint, but it certainly can be helpful.
By the time many patients get to the point of filing a complaint with the state medical board, they have already exhausted the possibility of resolving the matter with the physician who treated them and the facility where the injury or wrongdoing occurred.
Patients who wish to take the next step are able to fill out an online statement of complaint. Those who file a complaint are asked for their personal information, as well as information about their attorney, if they have one. The complaint form also requests information regarding any witnesses the complainant plans on using to establish claims, as well as whether the complainant is willing to participate in a public hearing on the matter.
Information about the facility and the provider are requested, as well as a description of the facts of the complaint and the order in which events occurred. Services rendered by the licensed provider must be divulged, as well as the dates on which the services were provided. In addition, complainants are asked whether they have any contracts, receipts, bills, correspondence, cancelled checks or other documents connected to the complaint.
In our next post, we’ll look at the parallel complaint process for health care facilities.