Consumer Alert: The Medical Board of California Will Now Accept Patient Impact Statements from Families When Their Complaints are Investigated

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As the Medical Board of California meets in Los Angeles today, Consumer Watchdog released a Consumer Alert video notifying the public of new consumer rights in the doctor disciplinary process. The board will for the first time consider patient testimony before a doctor is disciplined for causing patient harm or an untimely death. 

California patients and their families will have the opportunity to provide a patient impact statement once their complaint to the board has been referred for investigation. The Patient Impact Statement is one of the new patient rights that Consumer Watchdog's volunteer team of advocates advocated for at the Medical Board and won in last year's medical board sunset review bill SB 815 (Roth).

Watch the Consumer Alert here.

"For decades, the medical board had decided doctor disciplinary cases without taking into consideration the testimony of the patients impacted or their loved ones. That is why nearly 6 out of 10 investigated cases were closed without disciplinary action," said Michele Monserratt-Ramos, Kathy Olsen Patient Advocate with Consumer Watchdog in the Consumer Alert video.

"The Medical Board agreed with patient advocates that the process was one sided with physicians having an unfair advantage in the enforcement process," stated Michele Monserratt-Ramos, Kathy Olsen Patient Advocate with Consumer Watchdog. "Our volunteer team of advocates worked to convince the medical board of the inequity and protected this portion of the bill as it moved through the legislature."

The Medical Board will request that complainants submit a Patient Impact Statement once their complaint is referred to investigation. The Patient Impact Statement will be one of the tools available to Board Members to determine physician discipline.

"Californians now have more rights if their complaint is under investigation. Starting January one, any person whose complaint is newly referred for investigation can submit a patient impact statement to the medical board. Your statement will be used by decision makers in the disciplinary process," said Monserratt-Ramos in the Consumer Alert video.

"This is how the process will work. You will receive a letter from the medical board's Central Complaint Unit informing you that your complaint is being referred to investigation. The letter will also provide details on how you can submit your patient impact statement to the medical board," Monserratt-Ramos continued.

Previously, California consumers' rights in the doctor disciplinary process largely ended after they filed their complaint, and only families whose complaints met the criteria for investigation were granted interviews. Physicians, however, had the right to have legal representation, and the right to an interview, to provide their own medical expert, and provide additional medical records. Consumers' limited ability to share their side of the story contributed to the majority of consumer complaints being closed with little to no accountability for California patients.

"The patient impact statement is an important patient and family right that will allow us to ensure that decision makers keep the patient in mind just as much as the doctor when reaching a decision on physician discipline," concluded Monserratt-Ramos.

SOURCE Consumer Watchdog