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Choosing a doctor or hospital is an important decision, so it's wise to arm yourself with as much information as possible. Not all physicians and health facilities are the same, and they don't all provide the same level of care. Mistakes happen, including errors that rise to the level of medical malpractice.
One thing you'll certainly want to do before picking a healthcare provider is figure out whether there have been any formal complaints made against the doctor or hospital you're considering. The purpose of this article is to spotlight a few key resources that can help you do a little research on medical professionals and health care facilities.
'DocInfo' and the Federation of State Medical Boards
The Federation of State Medical Boards has compiled a database called DocInfo, which provides background data on almost one million licensed doctors in the U.S., including information regarding any disciplinary action taken against the provider.
State Medical Boards
Each state licenses its physicians. In turn, each state's board of medical licensure handles disciplinary matters. This can include suspension of the physician’s license to practice medicine, or permanent revocation of the physician’s license.
Many state licensing boards have websites you can access for free to determine whether the board has taken any disciplinary action against a particular physician.
If your state does not have a searchable website, you can contact the state licensing board directly. The Federation of State Medical Boards has compiled a list of contact information for each of the state medical boards. You can find it here: https://www.fsmb.org/contact-a-state-medical-board/
State Department of Health Services
If you're concerned about whether to choose a particular hospital, your state’s department of health services is a good resource to turn to in order to investigate whether any formal complaints have been made against that facility. For example, reports of improper care or unsafe conditions are often reported to the state department of health services. These are issues you would certainly want to be aware of before selecting a hospital.
Court Records
If someone has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor in your state, there will be a record of it in the court where the case was filed. Many court records can be found online, although you will need to do a little preliminary research to figure out what kind of information is actually available online in your state.
At a minimum, you should be able to determine whether any lawsuits have been filed (past or present) against a particular physician. If the documents related to the lawsuit are not available online, you can usually go to the courthouse and pay for a copy of the record (provided the information you're looking for is not confidential).
Use caution when searching court records. Sometimes patients sue their doctor because they were offended by something like poor bedside manner. Courts typically “throw out” lawsuits like this because there is no medical malpractice to speak of. However, there is still a record of the doctor's being sued. Bottom line: Do not assume that merely because someone sued a doctor, that doctor committed some kind of medical error. Many good physicians have been sued by cranky patients, and many of those lawsuits have been dismissed as frivolous.
Types of Complaints
There are a number of potential complaints you may find against a doctor or hospital. Below are some of the most common:
- drug errors
- unnecessary/inappropriate course of treatment
- premature discharge, and
- incomplete discharge instructions.
Physician Grades
There are organizations whose purpose is to rate the quality of physicians. One of these is the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). This group gathers data about the quality of care that doctors provide to their patients. They use this information to grade the physician. If NCQA has evaluated the physician you are considering, you should be able to find a “grade” for that physician.
Health Insurance Evaluations
Some health insurance plans also provide information about physicians, such as their education, specialty, and work history. This information may be available on your insurance company’s website, or over the phone.
Do Your Homework
Choosing a doctor, or a hospital where you will have a procedure performed, is a big decision. Unless you are faced with an emergency (in which case you will probably have little if any time to make an informed choice), it is well worth the time to carefully investigate your options. You may not have the time to go through referral after referral to reach a consensus of the best possible physician available; but at a minimum, you should make sure you do not hire a physician with a track record of making mistakes.
Legal Guidelines Exist That You Need to Know to Define a Hostile Workplace
What constitutes a hostile work environment? Some employees believe that a bad boss, an unpleasant work environment, a rude coworker, failure to qualify for a promotion, or the lack of perks, privileges, benefits, and recognition can create a hostile work environment.
And, yes, admittedly, many of these issues do contribute to an environment that may not be especially friendly or supportive of employees. The environment without employee friendly offerings can be awful. A bad boss contributes particularly to an environment that employees may see as hostile.
Traditionally, bad managers took the brunt of the blame when employees quit their job. (More recent thinking is that a lack of career development and opportunity is a larger contributor.) All of these factors can make an environment seem hostile to an employee's wants and needs. And, they are.
Requirements for a Hostile Work Environment
But, the reality is that for a workplace to be hostile, certain legal criteria must be met.
A hostile work environment is created by a boss or coworker whose actions, communication or behavior make doing your job impossible. This means that the behavior altered the terms, conditions, and/or reasonable expectations of a comfortable work environment for employees.
Additionally, the behavior, actions or communication must be discriminatory in nature. Discrimination is monitored and guided by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which was created by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
So, a coworker who talks loudly, snaps her gum, and leans over your desk when she talks with you, is demonstrating inappropriate, rude, obnoxious behavior, but it does not create a hostile work environment. On the other hand, a coworker who tells sexually explicit jokes and sends around images of nude people is guilty of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment.
A boss who verbally berates you about your age, your religion, your gender, or your race is guilty of creating a hostile work environment. Even if the comments are casual, said with a smile, or played as jokes, this does not excuse the situation.
This is especially true if you asked the individual to stop and the behavior continues. This, by the way, is always the first step in addressing inappropriate behavior at work—ask the inappropriately behaving boss or coworker to stop.
Legal Requirements for a Hostile Environment
The legal requirements for a hostile work environment include these.
- The actions or behavior must discriminate against a protected classification such as age, religion, disability, or race.
- The behavior or communication must be pervasive, lasting over time, and not limited to an off-color remark or two that a coworker found annoying. These incidents should be reported to Human Resources for needed intervention.
- The problem becomes significant and pervasive if it is all around a worker, continues over time,
- and is not investigated and addressed effectively enough by the organization to make the behavior stop.
- The hostile behavior, actions, or communication must be severe. Not only is it pervasive over time, but the hostility must seriously disrupt the employee’s work. The second form of severity occurs if the hostile work environment interferes with an employee’s career progress. For example, the employee failed to receive a promotion or a job rotation as a result of the hostile behavior.
- It is reasonable to assume that the employer knew about the actions or behavior and did not sufficiently intervene. Consequently, the employer can be liable for the creation of a hostile work environment.
Dealing With a Hostile Work Environment
The first step an employee needs to take if he or she is experiencing a hostile work environment is to ask the offending employee to stop their behavior or communication. If an employee finds this difficult to do on his or her own, they should solicit help from a manager or Human Resources.
When inappropriate behavior is coming from another employee, they are your best in-house resources. They also serve as your witness to the fact that you asked the offending employee to stop the behavior.
You want to put the offending employee on notice that their behavior is offensive, discriminatory, inappropriate, and that you won't tolerate the behavior. (In the majority of cases, the employee will stop the behavior. They may not have realized the degree to which you found the actions offensive.)
These resources will help you address a hostile work environment before the hostility escalates. You can pick between dealing with difficult people, dealing with a bully, holding a difficult conversation, and practicing conflict resolution skills.
They will all help you increase your skill in dealing with the coworker creating your hostile work environment. These skills and ideas may be all that you need since many bullies are spineless when confronted.
Especially in instances where you have reported the behavior of a manager or supervisor to the appropriate manager or HR staff member, the behavior must stop. Additionally, the reported individual may not retaliate against you as a payback for your reporting of his or her improper behavior.
An employee who experiences a hostile work environment, and has attempted to make the behavior stop without success, though, should go to his or her manager, employer, or Human Resources staff. The first step in getting help is to ask for help. Your employer must have the opportunity to investigate the complaint and eliminate the behavior.
A later hostile workplace lawsuit you institute will flounder if the employer was unaware of the situation and had not been given the opportunity to address the behavior and hostile environment. This is in your hands because, in most workplaces, hostile, offensive behavior is noticed and addressed when it is obvious or seen by many employees.
Employees rarely need to address the behavior on their own. When the behavior is not widely viewed or if it happens only in secret without witnesses, you must bring the hostile behavior to your employer's attention.
Plus, you may find yourself surprised at how vigilantly your employer acts to prevent current and future incidents that may contribute to a hostile work environment. Many, many employers regard harassment and the creation of a hostile work environment as actions that are deserving of employment termination following a confirming investigation. Give your employer a chance to do what's right.
Disclaimer: Please note that the information provided, while authoritative, is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality. The site is read by a world-wide audience and employment laws and regulations vary from state to state and country to country. Please seek legal assistance, or assistance from State, Federal, or International governmental resources, to make certain your legal interpretation and decisions are correct for your location. This information is for guidance, ideas, and assistance.