Florida Dept of Health

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

The entertainment news shows were buzzing about someone's mother dying after surgery. A number of people came forward about medical malpractice actions against the doctor, and the question was being asked why the mother went to the doctor in the first place.

If you're looking up Florida doctors, you can access information about any malpractice awards or disciplinary actions online. I suspect other states also have public access to the information. Here are the links to the Florida Dept. of Health.

FL-DOH MQA Services Home page

http://ww2.doh.state.fl.us/mqaservices/

Click on the Citizen/consumer link and then plug in the name; to narrow the search, enter the county. Then open up the various tabs of information to learn whether the doctor is board certified, hospital privileges, etc. If you are unsure of how the doctor's name is spelled, type in the first few letters you do know. Many a claimant butchers the name of a doctor he/she has previously seen [deliberately or otherwise], and I normally can hone in on the right doctor using this method.

The information is out there; please check out a doctor, get references and a second opinion before undergoing any serious procedure or treatment. Carol