COLUMBIA, S.C. - A bill headed to the Senate
will give the public access to formal complaints filed against
doctors by the state Board of Medical Examiners.
The House bill won second reading approval Thursday and will get
routine final reading Friday. It requires the release of the board's
formal complaint and the doctor's response after the doctor responds
or 10 days after the deadline for that response.
Rep. Phil Sinclair, R-Spartanburg, says the legislation is an
attempt to open public access to complaints. Complaints involving
lawyers are handled in a similar fashion, Sinclair says.
In March, the state Supreme Court heard arguments about medical
complaint records being sealed by the state's administrative law
court.
The (Hilton Head) Island Packet filed the lawsuit after it was
unable to get disciplinary records of Dr. James Johnston, who has
been barred from practicing medicine until he completes an alcohol
abuse treatment program. Johnston was a cardiologist at the Hilton
Head Regional Medical Center.
Because the bill did not beat a May 1 deadline for legislation to
cross between the House and Senate, it may not come up for debate
this year. Two-thirds of the Senate would have to agree to take the
bill up before next
year.
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