Peer Review Issues
What is peer review? It is based on a seemingly simple idea that physicians should be judged by their peers -  those who have similar training and expertise. The goal being to self-police the medical profession of incompetent physicians who make errors that endanger the public health.

However, it is also a very effective tool for getting rid someone you don't like. Reasons include:

  • bias against gender, ethnicity, life style
  • publicity in the media for sensational topics - either drugs or sex
  • professional jealousy
  • state politics
  • hospital politics
  • power trips
  • gossip - the rumor mill
  • retaliate on whistle blowers
  • upsetting the status quo
  • billing complaints
  • disgruntled employees
  • not getting the disability rating that the patient requested... especially in Worker's Compensation cases

The present laws allow for summary suspensions without due process.

The Center for Peer Review Justice - a organization for both the victims of sham peer review as well as their legal counsel
Peer Review...the Process

A complaint is filed for any reason above with the state board of medical examiners. It has a hearing and then summarily suspends the physician's license....he/she can not practice medicine in that state, often looses malpractice insurance coverage, no income...many try to continue paying their employees and keep their office space.  At the hearings, the state usually has a paid "expert witness" to support their claim that something improper was performed. (In other professions, when charges are made against someone on a work related issue, they are often suspended WITH pay until the investigation is completed....NOT with doctors.)

We also need to note that the state board of medical examiners is a political position.  In Alabama members of the board is appointed as follows: two physicians shall be appointed by the Lieutenant Governor; two physicians shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives; and the remaining three physicians shall be appointed by the Governor. There is political pressure to show by numbers that they are "weeding out the bad physicians."  Dealing with just the complaints that come before them and finding them "guilty as charged" saves them time and effort searching out the physicians who are actually maiming and killing their patients. 

After a second hearing the complaint is placed in the National Practitioner Data Bank to haunt him/her forever....no statue of limitations. This can effectively block the physician from moving to a new state and starting fresh.