I agree. We faced that problem a fryee times while I was at the Veterans Health Administration, with senior attendings in academic medical centers. We had told undergo extensive neuropsychological testing and never had problems
From: MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh-bounces@mylist.net> on behalf of Teichman, Ron F <Ron.Teichman@bannerhealth.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 3, 2019 10:14:42 PM
To: MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh@mylist.net>
Subject: Re: [MCOH-EH] [EXTERNAL] Physician Fitness for Duty
 
My first and primary response is that I have never met an attorney that would rather defend a wrongful death claim due to inaction when a problem was known than defend a discrimination or restrained of trade when there is objective evidence of impairment. Therefore, move forward with the clinical assessment as you lay out and ignore the propensity to sue.

Just MHO,
Ron Teichman, MD, MPH

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From: MCOH-EH <mcoh-eh-bounces@mylist.net> on behalf of Dr. Mona Khanna <drmona10@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 3, 2019 6:23:37 PM
To: mcoh-eh@mylist.net <mcoh-eh@mylist.net>
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [MCOH-EH] Physician Fitness for Duty
 
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