4.5[*] Doctors Out of 10 Didn't Report Bum Peers

Nick Gillespie | December 4, 2007

Doctors still get high marks for professionalism and ethics in most surveys, but a new poll of MDs finds:

While 96% of respondents said doctors should always report impaired or incompetent colleagues, only 55% of those with direct personal knowledge of such doctors in the past three years said they always did so.

And while 93% of respondents said doctors should always alert authorities when they observe serious medical errors, only 54% of those who had such information in the past three years said they always did so.

"I think human beings always fall short of their aspirations," senior author David Blumenthal says. "The intent of the paper was not to criticize but to ... highlight the areas for improvement."

More here.

[*]: Early-morning, pre-coffee, elementary math mistake corrected thanks to reader MR.