Responsibility for investigating Israelis' complaints against doctors will be shifted from committees appointed by the health ministry to a special justice ministry panel, Israel's new health minister, Roni Milo, announced less than three weeks after he took office.
Mr Milo, a lawyer by training, did not consult with officials in the Israel Medical Association before making his decision, and informed the justice minister only 10 minutes before his announcement.
The new panel will not only investigate complaints but will also decide if a doctor has been negligent and whether he or she should be punished.
Until now, the health minister has had the sole responsibility for deciding the professional fate of doctors accused of negligence, and could take decisions completely at variance with disciplinary boards' recommendations. An appeal against the minister's decision could be made only before Israel's Supreme Court.
The health ministry's committees have a record of dismissing a high proportion of patients' complaints. In 1999 the ministry's committees dismissed 765 out of 792 complaints. The comparable figures for 1997 and 1998 were 602/615 and 700/715 respectively.
When Mr Milo served as police minister several years ago, he ordered that investigations of complaints against policemen be handled by the justice ministry, and not by an internal committee of the Israel police. This decision was welcomed by the public, and now as health minister, he has decided to adopt the same technique for complaints against doctors.
Although changes would require legislation to be pushed through the Knesset (parliament), Mr Milo said that he would immediately refuse to change the recommendations of doctors' committees that investigated complaints.
Lawyers representing patients have repeatedly complained that senior doctors are reluctant to testify as experts in order to protect colleagues under investigation or merely as a collegial courtesy.
The minister's announcement shocked and amazed doctors' groups. “It's unthinkable that such reform can be carried out by shooting from the hip,” commented the Israel Medical Association's chairman, Dr Yoram Blachar.
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HAVAKUK LEVISON/REUTERS
Israeli health minister, Roni Milo: “shooting from the hip”