That's Fit

Most consumers like to be aware of potential risks associated with their investments. If you're a patient, and you look at yourself as a consumer of medical practices, you'd probably want to be aware of any risks associated with a particular doctor, right?

Well, the case of addiction among physicians is prompting California to reconsider a confidentiality program that enables these doctors to get rehab in secrecy, and still practice medicine. Now we are not talking about a huge number of doctors: only about 1 percent in the entire US, actually. But you wouldn't know if your doctor was in that 1 percent or not, even if he had botched an operation in the past.

Opponents of this secrecy program say that rehabilitation is not helping doctors get better, nor is it looking out for the interests of the patients. But due to the confidential nature of this whole issue, it's hard to tell what's working and what's not. It could be that some doctors with addictions are very successful at rehab! Even so, the ones who aren't successful wouldn't be required to disclose it, and patients would still be putting their trust (and money) into the hands of these medical professionals. It's a question that is sure to garner heated attention in the future, possibly closer to July when California's program ends. If no alternative system is put in place, then the state will revert back to zero-tolerance and begin pulling medical licenses.