Group Demands Change in Oregon Malpractice Law

A consumer group says Oregon needs to change its new medical malpractice law to prevent it from protecting bad doctors.

Public Citizen says cases that are settled in mediation should be reported to a national database, just like medical malpractice lawsuits.

The Oregonian reported the reporting requirement was exempted for mediation settlements in the bill that passed the Legislature in March.

Public Citizen wants the federal Health and Human Services department to require mediation payouts to be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank.

A health adviser to Gov. John Kitzhaber, Mike Bonetto, says disclosing the payouts could discourage doctors from participating in mediation. But, he says Kitzhaber believes doctors should be held accountable and there may be some compromise on reporting mediated settlements.