Texas Medical Board holds town-hall meetings

More patients across the state are filing complaints against doctors than in years past, and doctors are starting to feel unfairly targeted, officials and physicians said during meetings with the Texas Medical Board this week.

"Doctors have said that their perception of the medical board has changed dramatically ... now, they're afraid to get letters from the board," said Dr. Maria Dill, medical director of the South Texas Health Care System, a state-funded clinic in Harlingen. "And the only newsletter we get from the board lists doctors' mistakes."

The medical board, which licenses doctors and regulates medical practice in Texas, is holding a series of town-hall meetings and licensing seminars in Texas throughout June and July. Board representatives were in Brownsville Monday and Tuesday to meet with doctors and the public.

"It's the first time we're doing this across the state," said Dr. Manuel Guajardo, a Brownsville obstetrician-gynecologist and board member. "We're here for your concerns and questions."

After the Texas Legislature gave the board additional funds for enforcement in 2005, as well as handing down a mandate to better police the medical profession, the board has stepped up its investigations. By the end of fiscal year 2007, the board was investigating 1,300 cases and had opened about 2,600 more, compared to 694 investigations and 1,900 open cases in 2004, according to TMB's Web site.

The number of complaints the board receives from patients and family members also has increased dramatically, said Mari Robinson, director of enforcement for the agency. In the last two years alone, complaints have increased by 62 percent, Robinson said.

"We don't know if more (problems) are occurring or more are being reported," Robinson said.

Most of the complaints are about quality of care, she said. They range from problems on the operating table to mishandling of medications, she said.

Robinson said several factors could be contributing to the increase in complaints. For one, the number of doctors in Texas is on the rise, which leads to a correlating complaint increase. Also, because the Legislature has imposed caps on medical-malpractice damages in Texas, more patients and family members are filing grievances with the board rather than filing lawsuits, she said. And finally, more patients know about the complaint process than in the past, she said.

Doctors said they wanted more information about what types of complaints the board is receiving, and help avoiding common errors.

"The board, I think, is doing its job, but we need to know more about this complaint increase," said Dr. Pastor Alvarado, Brownsville colorectal surgeon. "Where are the complaints coming from? And what can we do to correct problems?"

Dill said that doctors need more guidance on what the board expects from them.

"Physicians are trying to do the right thing for patients," she said. "We need more information on how to do that."