Shocked about a doctor
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I was floored to log on to the local news here today and find this article about my former GYN, I read the story last year online but thought maybe it was just a malpractice lawsuit but after I watched the story from the link to the New Zealand 60 minutes I was sick to think that this man performed surgery on me a few years ago. This doctor had numerous malpractice claims and was able to go to New Zealand and practice, this woman had problems delivering and he forcefully delivered the child (I will spare you the details, you can read about it or watch the video from New Zealand 60 minutes), once the baby was born her embilical cord was wrapped around her neck so he quickly yanked it off of her neck and it actually was torn from her body. The baby died two days later.
This guy is still practicing, he came back to the United States and is now in Jacksonville, North Carolina still delivering babies.
http://hamptonroads.com/2008/04/doctor-avoids-troubled-past-relocating
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How scary (and highly disturbing!). :(
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I was particularly interested in this – as this is my career field. I work at a hospital and am tasked with credentialing our physicians. Although I handle all the reappointments to the staff, I am involved somewhat with our initial applicants. There's a tremendously long process that our providers have to go through before being granted privileges. References, verifications of practically every moment of their lives- education and work-- they have to account for gaps in those time frames as well. We collect as much information on these people as we possibly can... running various reports on national databases, insurance claim histories, criminal background checks, and other hospital affiliations. We live in a litigious world. And it is not uncommon for providers to be named in suits. You have to be concerned when payments are made and certainly when there's a history of similar issues. Or when previous employers, references, or professors give anything less that excellent remarks. It's also important to realize what type of program your physician graduated from-- is it accredited? How long was it? You really have to do your homework on your doctors. And like the video said- even the best doctors with the best intentions have bad outcomes. I know in our hospital, quality data is crucial. There are lots of meetings and review of statistics- and making sure that providers who "fall out" of the norm, are reviewed and proctored if necessary. It's a really big role and extremely important. It's really unforunate that he was re-hired in North Carolina. I wonder if he's on some type of restrictions there. Okay, just looked it up- no restrictions of his NC medical license. But he is licensed in other states.
http://www.ncmedboard.org/Clients/NCBOM/Public/Licensee_Details.aspx?&EntityID=80745&PublicFile=1
He went to Chapel Hill for medical school and he IS board certified. Both good things. I think it would be hard as a patient to see this person in the same light that we would– because we would have access to the "other" privileged information.
For future references, here are some things you might want to check out on your providers... it's not comprehensive, but it's better than nothing:
Google search your state: Virginia Board of Medicine... then do a license lookup or verification to see if there are any orders or notices against them
*Many times it will list their Board certification status, education, and other states where they're licensed.www.abms.org is the list for the American Board of Medical Specialties. You should want your doctor to be board certified. It means they've achieved a certain level of education and training/experience. You can contact the individual board to find out their status.
http://abms.org/About_ABMS/member_boards.aspx
http://exclusions.oig.hhs.gov/ Office of the Inspector General
National Practitioner Data Bank (although not entirely sure if the public has access to this)
Always get recommendations from people before seeing someone. I hope this helps!! :)
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BDawg,
Thanks for the great information, I know that I have checked the Virginia Board of Medicine data base for every doctor I have used since I found out about Dr. Tomeu last summer. I realize that doctor's are prone to malpractice suits so I don't jump to conclusions when I see a few things listed. I wish that their was a national database that contained all of their information that the public could view.
I ended up becoming a patient of Dr. Tomeu's right after I moved to Virginia because I had to have emergency surgery and he was the doctor on call. I do credit him with possibly saving my life, I felt that he was a great doctor but after reading things like this you can't help but wonder if what he did for me was necessary or extreme. At the time I had just got out of the military so I never thought about looking into a doctor's background but I do now.
