Editorial: The Regulatory Issue

Back when my grandfather was a family doctor in Alberta, after you graduated, the regulatory bodies didn’t have anything to do with you again unless a patient complaint or malpractice issue came up.We aren’t in those times anymore—and that is all for the good. But—all out of good intentions—the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA), the colleges of physicians and surgeons and others have loaded more and more tasks and processes onto working doctors. “Keep a personal notebook (not the patient record) observing if the health system was especially under stress!” (And no, apparently you can’t just write: “Freakin’ always!”)The regulatory pressures on working doctors today are intense. At a time when doctors are facing burnout and overload with paperwork and other tasks, have regulators gone too far? The pressures described in the article “Responsibility: Where does it end?” seem to suggest that a lighter touch is called for.The traditional motto of medical regulators is: “Protecting the public, guiding the profession.”So the doctors who go to work for the CMPA and the colleges earnestly want to help working doctors, and the push to close every loop and document every detail might make sense on paper, but in practice, it’s more fantasy than reasonable policy. Canadian physicians feel like they are being asked to meet a standard that is almost impossible to achieve in the real world—and punished when they fall short.Nonetheless, striving for improvement is part of the job, and the article “Out of QI ideas?” describes ways to think about quality improvement ideas.The Dispatch stories starting on page 8 are focussed on physician legal cases.It is important to remember that even though malpractice and serious patient complaints are a big concern, they are rare. About 1,000 legal actions are commenced each year against physicians, according to the CMPA, which defends most lawsuits filed against doctors. Fewer than 10% of these cases go to trial. Of all medical malpractice actions commenced, 55.2% are dismissed, discontinued or abandoned; 36.7% are settled; 6.5% are found in favour of the doctor at trial; and 1.6% in favour of the patients.Still, as they say, every doctor at some point in the working career is going to see a case.Canadian medicine needs high standards. But it also needs realism, compassion and a commitment to see the whole picture.

Editorial: The Regulatory Issue

Register for free access or login.

Related Topics

Business Topic