The survey was conducted by researchers at the Mountain Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, and included a total of 1,891 doctors in various specialties. The results of the survey have been published in JAMA. According to the survey,

• 69% of respondents felt they were equipped to deal with a colleague who was impaired.
• An approximate 64% of respondents reported that they believed they were equipped to deal with an incompetent colleague.
• 17% of respondents said they had had personal knowledge of an incompetent physician, and out of this, 67% said that they reported that physician or colleague.

The American Medical Association requires that doctors and physicians report intoxicated, impaired, unethical or incompetent doctors. The results of the survey show that far too many doctors don't seem to believe that this very necessary.

So, why would a doctor just look the other way when he sees a colleague significantly impaired? The answers are complex. Sometimes, physicians believe that reporting the doctor wouldn't actually make a difference to the situation, and other times, there is a fear of retribution from the intoxicated or incompetent doctor. That's confirmed by one fact in the study, which showed that doctors who were part of a one or two-person practice, belonged to a racial minority, or who graduated from non-American medical schools, were less likely to report intoxicated or incompetent colleagues, than doctors at hospitals or medical schools. There are also likely some feelings of empathy for the intoxicated doctor. It's also possible that doctors fear being sued by the physician they report.

Ultimately, patient safety is not about what's best for the doctors, but what's best for the patient. Doctors have a moral obligation to make it known when one of their colleagues is not in a position to discharge his duties safely. As Arizona medical malpractice lawyers know, failure to do so can be catastrophic, and the medical community needs to examine this issue.

It’s called simply the “July Effect.” Medical care professionals and Arizona medical practice lawyers have known for decades that the incidences of medication errors in hospitals tend to increase during the month of July. There's always been an explanation for this too. July is when many medical residents begin their residencies. These inexperienced residents are more prone to make medication errors. This fact has now been confirmed by a study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Diego.

The researchers looked at more than 244,000 death certificates between 1979 and 2006 in which medication errors were the primary cause of death. They noticed a spike in deaths due to medication errors in the month of July. While errors during the other months remained more or less constant, medication errors during July spiked by up 10%. There was no corresponding spike in other causes of death in July, or in deaths outside of hospitals during this month. These medication errors included accidental overdoses, administering the wrong dose of medicine, and errors in the use of the drug during medical and surgical procedures.

The researchers have published the results of their study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. They are calling for a greater evaluation of the responsibilities that medical residents are given when they begin their residencies. They're also calling for other ways to decrease the rates of medication errors, including increasing education for new medical residents about medication safety, and better supervision of medical residents.

If you can't avoid visiting a hospital in the month of July, Arizona medical malpractice attorneys would encourage you to take a friend or relative along to act as an advocate for you. This person should be responsible for making sure that medications that are administered to you, are administered correctly. If you're able to, make sure that you are taking the correct dosage and correct medication by reading the labels.