Know Your Doctor

I was working with an executive at a local media outlet on a marketing campaign for our law firm. We spoke on the phone and met in person quite a bit to discuss the project. In doing so we developed a cordial, friendly relationship. In the course of some chit chat with her one day, she mentioned that she and her husband were attempting to have a baby with the aid of a Chicago area fertility doctor. At the time I was working on a medical malpractice case arising out of the death of a young woman caused when the fertility specialist she was seeing negligently damaged her bowel during a surgical procedure. In light of my involvement with that case I asked the executive who her doctor was. It turned out that she was seeing the same physician whom we were suing. Though I was at first a little reticent about doing so I decided to tell her about my case. I figured that she was entitled to know what I knew about this physician. When I did, she confided that she had had her own concerns about the doctor. She and her husband ended up adopting a child instead.

People look into the backgrounds of their babysitters and plummers. All too often, however, patients do not take a few moments to look into their physician's background. All 50 states and the District of Columbia allow patients to look up the status of a physician's medical licensure. Some states will even show you online whether a doctor has been disciplined. There is simply no reason not to take advantage of this service when seeing a new doctor.

I have put together a link (located on the right side of this blog) that will take you to a list of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Click on a state and you will immediately be taken to that state's medical license look up service.