Problems with the medical board

Re “Lag widens in medical complaints,” March 17

As this article acknowledges, licensees are entitled to due process under law, and the wheels of justice grind slowly. As a reviewer in my specialty for the medical board, often it is a judgment call between deciding if behavior is within the standard of care, a minor deviation or a major deviation. The rare egregious departures from the standard of care, such as true negligent malpractice, are few and far between.

Society is at risk until the legal system reaches a conclusion, analogous to criminals out on bail awaiting trial and verdict. They can do harm to society if indeed they are evil and malicious or, if licensees, truly incompetent in spite of their credentials.

The public is definitely at some risk and therefore should avoid fad treatments, gratuitous cosmetic surgery and any physician who says “nothing to worry about” as part of the informed consent talk.

William Brenner MD

Beverly Hills

The state medical board’s financial support is entirely through physician license renewal. Only when legislators change funding or strengthen and enforce regulation will the board’s priority of protecting physicians change to ensuring patient safety.

Hillarie Levy

Simi Valley