From the Chicago Sun-Times:

When a doctor is sued for malpractice in Illinois, another physician must sign a statement certifying the lawsuit has merit.

Moreover, the physician alleging malpractice must be an expert in the field. The idea is to prevent frivolous lawsuits.

But there’s a catch. The name of this expert physician is kept secret. …

When the expert’s name isn’t revealed, there’s no way for the defense to question his or her qualifications, said Robert Kane of the Illinois State Medical Society.

The plaintiff’s bar in Illinois is strenuously defending the right of their certifying experts to remain anonymous, saying they might face retaliation if they revealed their identities. However, it seems the current policy also has the convenient effect of insulating the lawyers themselves to some degree from accountability for misconduct:

Dr. William Sullivan, an emergency room physician at Advocate South Suburban Hospital, believes a certifying physician should not be able to hide behind anonymity. Sullivan once was sued at another hospital, along with about 10 other doctors, by the family of a woman who died from car accident injuries.

Sullivan said he was named as a defendant, even though his only involvement in the case was to insert an IV line. When the case against him was dropped, Sullivan, who is also an attorney, turned around and sued the woman’s law firm for “malicious prosecution.”

Sullivan also sued “physician John Doe,” the doctor who certified Sullivan had committed malpractice. Sullivan said he needed to interrogate Dr. Doe in order to prove the case against him had been frivolous. But Sullivan never was able to learn Dr. Doe’s identity, so he had to drop his case.

(Jim Ritter, “Doctors seek to lift veil on malpractice cases”, Chicago Sun-Times, Jul. 5 (link no longer online except as $ archives))(& letter to the editor, Jul. 26).

Filed under: hospitals, Illinois, medical