The Executive Director of the Medical Board of California William Prasifka announced his resignation last week stating that his last day will be December 30, 2022. This announcement came following his performance review which was held during the December 2nd Quarterly Board meeting in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles, CA— Patient advocates today will call on the Medical Board of California to reform a physician oversight process that shuts out patients, prioritizes secrecy and ultimately fails to adequately protect patients from doctors who cause harm. Their testimony asks board members to back Patient Bill of Rights legislation, including reforms to give consumers a voice in the enforcement process and make discipline tougher and more transparent. The Medical Board meets in-person in Los Angeles on Thursday and Friday.
By Jennifer Kastner, KGTV ABC TV-10 San Diego, CA
July 20, 2022
https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/san-diego-news/new-criminal-char…
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - New criminal charges have been filed against the embattled Bonita plastic surgeon who's already charged in a patient's death and who’s facing multiple lawsuits.
By Ishani Desai, THE BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN
June 11, 2022
https://www.bakersfield.com/news/maternal-health-fair-highlights-need-f…
5th District Supervisor Leticia Perez said she was embarrassed to acknowledge how little she knew about maternal health care during her own pregnancies.
By Melody Gutierrez, LOS ANGELES TIMES
May 23, 2022
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-23/california-new-rule…
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday to raise the amount of money that patients can receive in medical malpractice cases, increasing pain and suffering payments for the first time since lawmakers placed a cap on monetary damages nearly five decades ago.
By Victoria Colliver, POLITICO PRO
May 23, 2022
Gavin Newsom on Monday signed a bill to update California's medical malpractice damage cap, ending a long-fought battle to adjust the pain-and-suffering limit that has remained unchanged for 47 years.
"After decades on negotiations, legislators, patient groups, and medical professionals have reached a consensus that protects patients and the stability of our health care system," Newsom said in a statement following the bill's signing, which was not public.
By Emily Valdez, KNX 1070 AM Los Angeles, CA
May 22, 2022
Click here to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast segment.
Jamie Court, President of Consumer Watchdog, applauding Governor Newsom signing AB 35 which will raise the medical malpractice damages cap in California.
By Staff Reports, KCRW 89.9FM Santa Monica, CA
May 19, 2022
Click here to listen to the audio of this radio news broadcast segment.
Advocates and victims' families look forward to Governor Newsom signing AB 35 into law to raise the cap on medical malpractice damages in California after nearly 50 years.
Kern County, CA – Supervisor Leticia Perez and the Kern County Board of Supervisors will proclaim May 2022 to be Latina Maternal Health Awareness Month at their May 10th meeting at 9:00 am on Mexican Mother’s Day.
Column by George Skelton, LOS ANGELES TIMES
May 9, 2022
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-09/skelton-malpractice…
SACRAMENTO — It’s being called the Sacramento equivalent of the Berlin Wall falling. Or a Middle East peace pact.
Long-warring enemies have suddenly negotiated a historic compromise over how much money medical malpractice victims can be awarded for pain and suffering.
By Alexis Rivas, KNSD NBC TV-7 San Diego, CA
May 2, 2022
https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/california-bill-seeks-to-raise-c…
By Ana B. Ibarra and Kristen Hwang, CALMATTERS
April 27, 2022
https://calmatters.org/health/2022/04/medical-malpractice-california-de…
A measure slated for California’s November ballot that sought to raise the cap on medical malpractice awards could be pulled, under an agreement announced today.
By Victoria Colliver, POLITICO PRO
April 27, 2022
California’s nearly 50-year-old medical malpractice compensation limits may soon be increased as part of a deal announced Wednesday that could end a decadeslong fight that’s pitted doctors and insurance companies against patients and families seeking justice in the courtroom for wrongful injuries or deaths.
Los Angeles, CA - The California families harmed by medical negligence who launched the Patients for Fairness coalition (http://www.patientsforfairness.org) responded favorably to news of a potential legislative deal to raise the 47 year old cap on medical malpractice damages. The families said the legislation would eliminate the need for the Fairness for Injured Patients Act to go before voters in November 2022.
By Melody Gutierrez, LOS ANGELES TIMES
April 27, 2022
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-04-27/california-malpract…
SACRAMENTO — Cash payments in California medical malpractice cases would go up for the first time in nearly five decades under a deal between rival interest groups announced Wednesday that avoids a costly battle at the ballot box in November.
Los Angeles, CA – Assemblymember Bill Quirk and the California State Assembly Committee on Business and Professions took an unprecedented step today to restore the public’s trust in their medical board by voting to support a public board member majority. AB 2060 (Quirk) was voted out of committee today and will be heard next in Assembly Appropriations committee. This bill will make California the first state in the country to require its medical board to be led by a majority of public board members.
Los Angeles, CA – Consumer Watchdog called on legislative leaders to enact a Patient Bill of Rights to reform physician oversight and accountability in California. The nonprofit consumer advocacy organization said reform proposals recently floated by the Medical Board of California are good start, but “do not go far enough to prioritize the problems patients, not the Board’s regulators, suffer because of California’s failed systems of physician oversight.”
Los Angeles, CA – Insurance companies who profit by denying fair compensation to patients injured or killed by medical malpractice have put up $27.8 million to oppose the Fairness for Injured Patients Act. Insurance money accounts for two-thirds of the $43.8 million raised to oppose the Fairness Act, a measure that seeks to restore accountability for injured patients on the November 2022 California ballot.
Stockton, CA -- Women whose doctors sexually abuse and assault them are denied justice both by the Medical Board of California, as a Los Angeles Times investigation revealed this week, and in the courts because of the 1975 law limiting legal accountability for doctors that is the target of the Fairness for Injured Patients Act to be voted on in November, said Consumer Watchdog today.
Bakersfield, CA – The Medical Board of California has allowed a 25-year repeat offender doctor to surrender his license on a technicality and not face charges before an administrative law judge in an accusation based on the death of a local mother.
Sacramento, CA -- Steve Poizner, former Insurance Commissioner of California, endorsed the Fairness for Injured Patients Act to update California’s cap on quality of life and survivor damages for patients harmed by medical negligence.
Los Angeles, CA – Two parents of children injured by medical negligence called out a doctor opposing the Fairness For Injured Patients Act because they were “deeply offended” by his “comment that compensation for death or lifelong harm is capped under California’s nearly 50 year old law because such losses are ‘very nebulous.’”
Scott Olsen and Tammy Smick wrote Dr. Mark Alson that his comment, “misstates the law and is disrespectful of families across the state and the hardships they face because of the cap.”
By Sasha Lauren, CITY WATCH LA
December 9, 2021
https://www.citywatchla.com/index.php/wellness/23253-the-medical-board-…
MEDICAL WATCH - If a doctor harms you or kills a loved one, what recourse is there in California?
Los Angeles, CA -- A coalition of patients and families harmed by medical negligence launched a new website today – www.PatientsForFairness.org – one year before Election Day 2022 when Californians will vote on a ballot measure to restore the rights of medical negligence victims.
Los Angeles, CA – Consumer Watchdog is debuting a digital ofrenda (altar) celebrating the lives of Californians who died due to medical negligence today and tomorrow in recognition of Dia de los Muertos. Advocate families that span across California recorded videos sharing a glimpse into the lives of their lost loved ones. New videos and family photos personalized by family members will be shared on Consumer Watchdog’s social media platforms every half hour on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Sacramento, CA – Today’s CBS This Morning special investigation makes a damning case for reform of physician oversight and legal accountability in California. The segment documents how the influence of the doctors’ lobby on lawmakers and on the Medical Board of California allows bad doctors to continue practicing and causing patient harm. As whistleblower member of the Medical Board, TJ Watkins, told CBS: “No question that it costs patient lives.”
Los Angeles, CA – The must-see documentary “Never Events,” that follows the journey of multiple families who fought for change after suffering lifelong harm or loss due to medical negligence, debuts this week on Amazon, Apple TV and other streaming services. The documentary exposes the trauma caused by medical negligence, the third leading cause of death in America, and California’s cap on compensation for patients who are harmed that prevents them from getting justice or accountability for their loss.
WOMEN OF COLOR are disproportionately harmed by California’s outdated limits on compensation for patients injured by medical negligence. Systemic inequities in our health care system mean women of color receive lower quality health care and contend with worse health outcomes. Then the cap deprives them of justice when they seek answers and accountability.
Sacramento, CA – California lawmakers have moved legislation to the Senate Floor to make California the first state in the nation whose Medical Board has a majority of public, not doctor, members. The bill follows months of calls for increased public representation from families harmed by medical negligence who have been denied answers and accountability by both the Medical Board and the state’s 46-year-old cap on compensation for injured patients.
By Staff Reporters, KGET NBC TV-17 Bakersfield, CA
April 19, 2021
https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/two-years-since-childbirth-tragedy…
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Today marks two years since the death of Demi Dominguez and her son Malakhi De Leon.
By Jeremy B. White, Debra Kahn, POLITICO PRO
April 8, 2021
Pending state ballot initiatives will go before voters in 2022 as planned rather than during a likely 2021 recall election, according to campaign representatives who have heard from elections officials.
Los Angeles, CA – California is worse than two-thirds of states in the country when it comes to disciplining doctors whose negligence or incompetence causes patients serious harm, according to a new report by the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen. The report comes as California’s legislature shines a harsh light on endemic failures in the Medical Board of California’s system of disciplining doctors as part of its sunset review oversight hearings.
By Iliana Capellan, KGET NBC TV-17 Bakersfield, CA
March 19, 2021
https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/state-senator-plans-to-ask-califor…
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Last week we told you about the fight the Dominguez family continues to battle for justice for Demi Dominguez and her son Malakhi De Leon, both of who died in 2019.
Sacramento, CA – Consumer Watchdog and a dozen Fairness for Injured Patients campaign advocates who were harmed by medical negligence and failed by the Medical Board of California will call on the legislature to turn control of the doctor-run Board over to the public, in testimony on Friday.
They will support recommendations before the Legislature’s sunset review committee to add two public members to the board, which has 8 doctor members and just 7 public seats, 2 of which are currently vacant.
By Lezla Gooden, KERO ABC TV-23, Bakersfield, CA
March 12, 2021
https://www.turnto23.com/news/local-news/family-of-demi-dominguez-speak…
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Two years after her death, the family of Demi Dominguez is speaking out after it was announced the Medical Board of California is seeking to revoke the license of one of her doctors.
Attorney General Files Negligence Accusation
By Ilyana Capellan, KEGT NBC TV-17, Bakersfield, CA
March 12, 2021
https://www.kget.com/news/familys-fight-for-justice-continues-for-young…
By Andrew Sheeler, SACRAMENTO BEE
February 15, 2021
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article24…
MARCH FOR RACIAL JUSTICE AND MALPRACTICE REFORM
By Scott Linesburgh, THE STOCKTON RECORD
February 13, 2021
https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/local/2021/02/13/this-shouldnt-hav…
MANTECA – Sharon Washington-Barnes led a group of more than 40 people on a 1.5-mile march through southwest Manteca, visiting each of the medical facilities they felt failed her late brother, Shawn Washington II.
By Laura S. Diaz, THE STOCKTON RECORD
February 12, 2021
https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/local/2021/02/12/manteca-march-see…
MANTECA — Shawn Washington III was coughing up blood and having difficulty breathing when he sought help at the Kaiser Permanente emergency room in Manteca at about 1 a.m. on April 26, 2019. Less than 7½ hours later, he was pronounced dead.
Manteca, CA -- A coalition of Central Valley racial justice groups announced their endorsement of the Fairness for Injured Patients Act, the 2022 ballot initiative to update California’s discriminatory cap on compensation for patients harmed by medical negligence.
Sacramento, CA – Two former leaders of the California Medical Association should be rejected as nominees to the Medical Board of California for their records opposing common sense patient safety reforms, Consumer Watchdog will testify at their confirmation hearing today.
The Senate Rules Committee hearing begins at 1:30PM and can be viewed on Senate TV at: https://www.senate.ca.gov/
Op-Ed Commentary by Greer Levin, for HOSPITAL WATCHDOG
January 29, 2021
https://hospitalwatchdog.org/op-ed/
Governor Newsom appointed Dr. Richard Thorp to the Medical Board of California in July of 2019. His controversial appointment raises a glaring red flag for health care quality across the state.
Sacramento, CA – Consumer Watchdog renewed its call for Governor Gavin Newsom to withdraw the nomination of Dr. Richard Thorp, former president of the doctors’ lobby, to the Medical Board of California.
Los Angeles, CA -- An HIV positive man filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court to coincide with World AIDS Day against a surgeon and medical group for refusing to treat him because of his HIV status.
Download the lawsuit here: https://www.consumerwatchdog.org/sites/default/files/2020-11/SmithvPate…
Today is World AIDS Day, an annual event since 1988 to support those living with HIV and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness.
KCBS AM, San Francisco, CA
November 18, 2020
Click here to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast segment.
Activist Charles Johnson tells KCBS radio why he is more alarmed than most over Newsom’s French Laundry blunder.
Manteca, CA – The family of Shawn Washington, a 29-year-old Black man killed by medical negligence at Kaiser Manteca Medical Center, called on the Medical Board of California and the California Department of Public Health to hold his medical providers, and the hospital where he died, accountable. His family has joined patients across the state to support the Fairness for Injured Patients Act, a 2022 ballot measure to ensure equal justice for families harmed by medical negligence.
Los Angeles, CA - As California courts and voters confront the injustice of the state’s 45-year-old limits on the rights of medical negligence victims, Consumer Watchdog celebrates World Patient Safety Day on Sept. 17th with the launch of a new website featuring video, photos and an interactive map to tell the stories of injured patients who are fighting for change. They are the force behind the Fairness for Patients Act on the November 2022 California ballot.
By Kerry Klein, KVPR NPR Bakersfield, CA
September 1, 2020
https://www.kvpr.org/post/state-senator-questions-medical-board-about-i…
A San Joaquin Valley legislator is seeking answers from the Medical Board of California as to why the oversight agency allowed a Bakersfield doctor to remain in practice even though it determined he had been negligent with patients.
By Kerry Klein, KVPR - CENTRAL VALLEY PUBLIC RADIO
August 5, 2020
https://www.kvpr.org/post/deaths-mothers-infants-during-childbirth-prom…
Click here to listen to the audio of this radio broadcast segment.
Initiative would raise cap on selected cases, extend deadline for medical negligence cases
By Evan Symon, CALIFORNIA GLOBE
July 28, 2020
https://californiaglobe.com/section-2/medical-negligence-compensation-c…
Los Angeles, CA — Having collected 900,000 signatures and raised over $4 million, the survivors of medical negligence behind a California ballot measure to adjust California’s 45-year-old cap on quality of life and survivor damages announced today that the Secretary of State has certified the initiative for the November 2022 ballot.
By Amber Frias, KGET NBC-TV, Bakersfield, CA
June 25, 2020
https://www.kget.com/news/local-news/bakersfield-ob-gyn-placed-on-proba…
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – The medical license of a Bakersfield ob-gyn has been placed on probation for five years after allegations that gross negligence and repeated negligent acts led to a new mother’s death.
By Elizabeth Christian, BAKERSFIELD NOW
June 20, 2020
https://bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/a-call-to-action-to-hold-medical-…
Bakersfield, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX)- A tragic case that happened a year ago claimed the life of 23-year-old Demi Dominguez. Dominguez gave birth to a baby boy and later bled to death. The baby was declared brain dead and he didn't survive either.
Demi Dominguez was just about to graduate from Cal State Bakersfield with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Her plan was to go to graduate school to continue her studies in psychology and become a counselor. But her life was cut short by preventable medical negligence.
Bakersfield, CA – The Medical Board of California’s decision to allow Dr. Arthur Park to continue practicing, despite a 20-year track record of negligence causing catastrophic injuries and death in the Bakersfield community, will unconscionably place even more patients at risk, said Consumer Watchdog today. The Medical Board signed a settlement deal with Dr. Park last week which has granted him five years of probation and the ability to continue to practice with restrictions.
By Stacey Shepard, BAKERSFIELD CALIFORNIAN
June 3, 2020
https://www.bakersfield.com/news/state-board-puts-local-doctor-on-proba…
A local OB-GYN will begin five years of probation later this month following a state investigation into the death of one of his patients in September 2016.
By Aaron Pelc, LAW360
May 4, 2020
https://www.law360.com/newyork/articles/1270123/law360-s-tort-report-ca…
Law360 (May 4, 2020, 7:35 PM EDT) -- The postponement of a campaign to raise a California cap on pain and suffering damages leads Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.
By Victoria Colliver, POLITICO PRO
April 30, 2020
OAKLAND — Proponents of an initiative to increase California's medical malpractice compensation cap dropped their November 2020 effort today, the latest ballot proposal to fall victim to the coronavirus pandemic.
By Staff Writers, ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 30, 2020
https://www.thehour.com/news/article/California-battle-on-malpractice-c…
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has delayed by two years what likely would have been one of the most expensive California ballot battles leading up to this November's election, initiative supporters said Thursday.
Rowan Gibbs had a smile that would light up a room. He was a happy child with a heart filled with love for his family, and a willingness to share his joy with each person that crossed his path.
Bakersfield, CA – Consumer Watchdog called on the Medical Board of California to fulfill its mission to protect health care consumers and immediately suspend the license of Bakersfield physician Dr. Jason Helliwell.
Bakersfield, CA – The family of 28-year-old Sabrina De La Rosa should be celebrating the birth of her baby boy Jaxx with Sabrina surrounded by her loving friends and family. Instead, they are holding fundraisers to raise money to hold memorial services for the young mother of four. Nine months pregnant De La Rosa was taken to Memorial Hospital – Bakersfield with labor pains. Her family anxiously awaited the arrival of her child. Instead, her family was left in shock when Baby Jaxx was brought into the world without his mother Sabrina to care for him.
Los Angeles, CA -- Supporters of the Fairness for Injured Patients Act announced today that in just five weeks they have gathered 307,000 of the petition signatures needed to qualify the initiative measure for the November 2020 ballot. The group also notified the Secretary of State that they have passed the 25% signature threshold, triggering a requirement that the Legislature hold a public hearing about the measure.
Patient safety depends on medical providers and hospitals being held accountable when they do harm. When there are no consequences for medical negligence, patient care never gets better.
In 1975, the legislature placed a series of limits on injured patients’ legal rights. Most prominent among the law’s restrictions was a $250,000 cap on non-economic or quality of life compensation for patients harmed by medical negligence.
Updating California’s 45-year-old medical negligence cap will help the primarily low-income Californians served by community clinics by improving their access to justice if they are harmed by medical negligence.
20 states plus Washington, DC have no cap on noneconomic damages.
- These include progressive states such as New York, Washington, and Connecticut as well as conservative states like Alabama, Wyoming, and Kentucky.
California is 1 of just 3 states with a cap as low as $250,000 with no exceptions. $250,000 is the lowest cap in the country. (Montana and Texas are the other two)
In just 2019, 3 states either overturned their caps or adjusted them for inflation.
Some argue that caps on compensation for victims of medical negligence prevent doctors from leaving a state because of liability fears. This claim is demonstrably false.
There are more doctors per capita in states without caps than in states with caps
WOMEN are disproportionately harmed by outdated limits on the ability of injured patients to recover damages. California’s cap on compensation for “non-economic” or quality of life harm prevents women from getting justice.
Sacramento, CA -- Medical negligence survivors and advocates for a proposed ballot measure launched a petition signature drive for the Fairness for Injured Patients Act (FIPA), which will adjust the compensation cap imposed on injured patients by Sacramento politicians in 1975 that has never been adjusted.
Juries are not told of the cap and injured patients cannot receive more than $250,000 for their quality of life and wrongful-death survivor damages, no matter how serious the injury or severe the medical negligence.
Consumer Watchdog filed a new ballot measure Thursday to make a frontal assault on the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act, known as MICRA, a 1975 law capping non-economic medical negligence damages at $250,000,
By Malcolm Maclachlan, THE DAILY JOURNAL OF LOS ANGELES
September 27, 2019
By Y. Peter Kang, LAW 360
September 27, 2019
https://www.law360.com/california/articles/1203371/calif-group-seeks-to…
Law360 (September 27, 2019, 9:18 PM EDT) -- A consumer advocacy group has launched a ballot initiative that would significantly raise California’s cap on pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice cases, five years after a similar proposal was shot down by voters.
Sacramento, CA -- The father of a 29-year-old man disabled for life by medical negligence when he was two and the parents of a young girl with life-long disabilities, who await their daughter’s medical negligence trial, filed the Fairness for Injured Patients Act (FIPA) today, a proposed initiative for the November 2020 ballot.
"We are the most progressive state in the country with the most regressive medical malpractice laws in the country," the president of Consumer Watchdog says.
By Cheryl Miller, THE RECORDER
September 26, 2019
https://www.law.com/therecorder/2019/09/26/caps-on-medical-malpractice-…
By Adam Beam, ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 26, 2019
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2019-09-26/…
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A proposed California ballot initiative would let patients get more money in medical malpractice lawsuits.
Last week SB 325, a bill by Senator Jerry Hill to require the state of California to license and oversee outpatient substance abuse treatment centers, faced its first test in the legislature. It passed the Senate Health Committee unanimously.
Milpitas, CA – Patient safety advocates testified to the Medical Board of California today that its initiative to investigate excessive prescribing by doctors involved in prescription overdose deaths is critical to state efforts to end the opioid overdose epidemic.
Given the divide in America, it’s truly been remarkable how much we have accomplished together in 2018. Below's just some of what we accomplished in 2018, and you can also watch this short highlights video about our victories.
The nation’s toughest online privacy law: A new California law requires that companies tell you what information they collect about you, give you the right to say no, and are legally accountable for data breaches.
Georgia Dental Board Inaction Could Leave Patients At Risk
Only twice in the past five years has the board yanked the license of a dentist because of poor care
By Yamil Berard, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
September 20, 2018
https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional/dental-board-inaction-could-le…
Sacramento, CA -- Doctors in California will have to be honest with their patients if they are on probation for sexual assault or other egregious patient harm under legislation, SB 1448 by Senator Jerry Hill, that was signed by the Governor today.
A win in the California statehouse on the last day of session usually means not losing too much, but last night California consumers scored tangible victories.
Here is last night's statehouse scorecard:
Sacramento, CA – California would be the first state in the nation to mandate doctors tell their patients when they are disciplined for sexual assault or other patient harm under legislation that passed the Assembly and Senate today and goes to Governor Brown's desk.
Los Angeles, CA – A new app released by the Medical Board of California today cannot replace a simple in-person disclosure as the best way to notify patients if their doctor has been disciplined for causing patient harm, said Consumer Watchdog.
Los Angeles, CA – The state must launch an immediate investigation into a Fresno hospital and its executives accused by whistleblowers of covering up years of negligence and substance abuse by a cardiac surgeon who was a significant source of revenue for the hospital, Consumer Watchdog wrote in a letter sent to the Attorney General and President of the state Medical Board yesterday.
Sacramento, CA – Legislation to lift the veil of secrecy around physician sexual assault and other patient harm today passed its final policy committee, the Assembly Business & Professions Committee, with a 15 – 1 vote. Survivors of physician sexual assault, including Olympic and Michigan State University athletes abused by team doctor Larry Nassar, and public interest advocates including Consumer Watchdog, testified in support of SB 1448, to require physicians to inform their patients when they are on probation for causing egregious patient harm.
Every doctor in California will soon be required to use the most powerful tool we have to identify and prevent opioid abuse: the state prescription drug database known as CURES. Beginning in October, doctors will have to check the database and review a patient’s prescription history before prescribing opioids and other dangerous drugs.
Sacramento, CA -- Doctors on probation for sexually assaulting their patients and for other serious misconduct causing patient harm would be required to disclose this to their patients under SB 1448 (Hill), which passed out of the Senate Business and Professions Committee on Monday with bipartisan support.
Los Angeles, CA – Patients who were sexually assaulted by doctors and lost loved ones to doctors’ negligence shared their medical horror stories today and pressed the California Medical Board to adopt a new Patient Bill of Rights and ensure future patients are protected.
The stories told at today’s meeting of the Medical Board illustrate the devastating harm caused to patients by a regulatory system in which doctors’ records of patient harm are hidden and patient complaints go unheeded. The patients and families testifying included:
Los Angeles, CA – The nonprofit patient advocacy group Consumer Watchdog called on state regulators to immediately suspend the license of a Salinas doctor being prosecuted by the Monterey County District Attorney’s office for sexually assaulting a patient. A separate lawsuit alleges that two eyewitnesses saw Dr. Robert Wlodarczyk assault the patient as she was coming out of anesthesia following a cardiac procedure.
Santa Monica, CA -- The California Department of Justice told the legislature today that it will delay implementation of a key technological tool for stemming the opioid abuse crisis until 2019, more than a year later than the database was deployed statewide. The technology appears sound, but the delay seems to be in prioritizing personnel to accomplish its certification, according to today’s testimony.
SAN JOSE, CA -- With the state of the state speech tomorrow, the parents of a child killed by a doctor who got off with only a public reprimand and consumer advocate Ralph Nader separately wrote Governor Jerry Brown to ask him to deal with California’s patient safety crisis.
They both reminded Brown of words he personally spoke to them, in one case condemning the state law on malpractice Brown himself signed 43 years ago and, in the other, offering to stay involved in the family's struggle.
Santa Monica, CA – The California Supreme Court today issued a decision affirming the right of the Medical Board of California to use the state prescription drug database to protect patients from incompetent and negligent doctors, and to prevent dangerous and illegal prescribing of opioids and other powerful medications.
Santa Monica, CA – Consumer Watchdog condemned today’s vote by the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill taking away the rights of patients harmed by medical negligence, unsafe drugs, defective medical devices and nursing home abuse. The legislation, HR 1215, would place a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages in medical negligence cases and close the courtroom door to injured patients, for example women who are permanently sterilized due to a doctor’s negligence. The bill narrowly passed, 218-210.
Sacramento, CA – Physician oversight remains broken four years after a legislative review committee considered shutting down the Medical Board of California if it did not improve patient protection, Consumer Watchdog will testify today at the sunset review hearing into the future of the Board.
SANTA MONICA, CA: The California Supreme Court said today it will review the constitutionality of the state’s arbitrary 39-year-old damages cap of $250,000 in medical malpractice cases in Hughes v. Pham. Last week, Consumer Watchdog wrote an amicus letter asking the Court to review Hughes and overturn this decades-old injustice.
SANTA MONICA, CA: Consumer Watchdog has joined the plaintiffs in Hughes v. Pham in asking that the California Supreme Court review the constitutionality of the state’s arbitrary 39-year-old damages cap of $250,000 in medical malpractice cases.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – Today Senator Barbara Boxer stood with mothers who lost their children to medical negligence in calling on California voters to support for the patient safety protections in Proposition 46. The campaign supporting Prop 46 also released an ad featuring Barbara Boxer.
Santa Monica, CA – Californians should have the same right as Floridians to equal protection under the law in cases of medical negligence, said Consumer Watchdog Campaign today after the Florida Supreme Court ruled the state’s cap on medical negligence damages is unconstitutional. Signatures will be turned in beginning next week for a ballot measure that would increase protections for harmed California patients by
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