Greetings, Work Medicine Specialists --

I have been asked to assist in determining whether a physician on hospital staff is too functionally impaired to perform a job as an interventionalist. The issues are decreased vision and tremor. The procedural staff has raised concerns, but in the past the physician has quashed them with the help of a heavyhanded attorney.

We all know the usual approach to this process with regular hospital "employees" - obtain a job description, perform a history and physical exam, obtain specialist reports and then define what the individual can/can't do via work restrictions. How should we handle this when the object is a non-employee physician on staff, there is no job description, and there is a very low threshold for litigation?

Thank you.

Mona Khanna, MD