Doctors Not Reporting Addicted Doctors

Doctors Not Reporting Impaired Colleagues, Survey Finds

A study from the Harvard Medical School found that 17 percent of doctors knew of drunk, addicted or otherwise incompetent colleagues, but one-third said they did nothing to report fellow physicians‘ dangerous behavior, the Associated Press reported July 13.

The findings come from a 2009 survey of 1,891 doctors practicing in the U.S.

While the American Medical Association and many state laws require doctors to report their colleagues if they behave in a way that could endanger their patients, the study suggests many physicians don’t know where to turn, or believe they could suffer reprisals if they do take action.

Matthew Wynia, director of the AMA Institute for Ethics, doesn’t believe that matters. “I don’t think there’s any excuse for less than 100 percent of physicians holding true to these ideals,” he said.

Most states have retraining, intervention, and treatment programs for doctors, said the study’s author, Catherine DesRoches, but the survey indicates doctors don’t have faith in the system in place.

The research was published in the July 14, 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

From Join Together

See also

• Improving Treatment Compliance

Mind-altering medications can cause birth defects

Between 1998 and 2007, mind-altering medications were associated with 429 adverse drug reactions in Danish children under the age of 17. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen’s Faculty of Pharmaceutical Studies have published an article in the open access journal BMC Research Notes concluding that more than half of the 429 cases were serious and several involved birth defects, such as birth deformities and severe withdrawal syndromes.

Professors Lise Aagaard and Ebbe Holme Hansen from the University of Copenhagen studied all 4,500 paediatric adverse drug reaction reports submitted during the study period to find those which were linked to mind-altering medications. The two researchers found that 42% of adverse reactions were reported for psycho-stimulants, such as Ritalin, which treats attention deficit disorder (ADD), followed by 31% for antidepressants, such as Prozac, and 24% for antipsychotics, such as Haldol.

"A range of serious side effects such as

• birth deformities,
• low birth weight,
• premature birth, and
• development of neonatal withdrawal syndrome

were reported in children under two years of age, most likely because of the mother’s intake of mind-altering medication during pregnancy," says Associate Professor Lisa Aagaard.

Use of antidepressants is increasing

The researchers believe that these tendencies should serve as a warning to pregnant women, doctors and health care personnel.

"Mind-altering medication should not be prescribed in ordinary circumstances, because this type of medication has a long half-life. If people take their medicine as prescribed it will be a constantly high dosage, and it could take weeks for one single tablet to exit the body’s system. Three out of four pregnancies are planned, and therefore society must take responsibility for informing women about the serious risks of transferring side effects to their unborn child," says Aagaard.

There is a clear indication that use of antidepressants is increasing in Denmark, as well as in many other countries, and the tendency is the same when it comes to pregnant women.

"We are constantly reminded about the dangers of alcohol use and smoking during pregnancy, but there is no information offered to women with regards to use of mind-altering medication. There is simply not enough knowledge available in this area," concludes Aagaard, suggesting that greater control should be required when prescribing mind-altering medications to pregnant women.

From EurekAlert

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