– It is unfortunate if it becomes common to report to the police and punish doctors for malpractice. The threshold must not be lower to do so, believes president Anne-Karin Rime of the Medical Association. On Tuesday, news wrote about a new Flekkefjord doctor who has been charged by the police for malpractice. It is the second doctor from the hospital in Flekkefjord who has been under investigation in the past year. The medical association now feels that doctors are increasingly worried about making mistakes, for fear of being reported or suspended, according to Rime. She makes the reservation that she is not familiar with the case in question, and that the Medical Association does not comment on individual cases either. – I don’t think society is served by American conditions, where lawsuits are widely brought against doctors. We have a response system that the Norwegian Health Authority looks after, says Rime. – It is important to weed out doctors Lawyer Jan Inge Thesen believes that Norway is far from what Rime calls American conditions. He believes that it is too rare for the police to go after individual doctors. – It is important to weed out the doctors who are not qualified, and who should not undertake such tasks. Such as practicing complicated orthopedics without being qualified for it. Then things go wrong. Earlier this year, doctor Jerlan Omarchanov was prosecuted for breaching the Health Personnel Act after a botched operation in Kristiansand in 2019. The trial against him starts at the end of August. Omarchanov has been behind a number of botched operations in Southern Norway, and 58 patients have received compensation in cases against him. Svein Are Auestad was operated on incorrectly by Jerlan Omarchanov. The trial against Omarchanov starts in Agder district court at the end of August. Photo: Private – Means an enormous amount The thesis represents around twenty patients who have taken legal action against Sørlandet Hospital. He also represents the patient who has reported the most recent case against an orthopedist in his 40s. The patient came in with a broken heel, but the orthopedist missed it on the X-ray. – It is difficult to understand that it can be overlooked by a specialist in orthopedics, writes Norwegian Patient Compensation (NPE) in its assessment. NPE also writes that the case for which the orthopedist is now charged is “undoubtedly a clear breach of what is expected/should be required in a Norwegian hospital, regardless of size”. It has ended with an orthopedist now being charged with malpractice. – For the patient, it means a great deal that the police have brought charges. Nobody has cared in the past, says Thesen. Lawyer Jan Inge Thesen at the Robertson law firm represents the patient who was mistreated in Flekkefjord in 2020. Photo: Truls Kleven – Nothing to fear The president of the Medical Association believes that continuous quality work should be prioritized and errors at system level should be followed up at the hospitals. – Being put under police investigation when you are at work is a big burden and can create unnecessary fear of making a mistake. “Criminal sanctions must be reserved for the most serious cases and are not a suitable means of preventing errors in the health service,” she adds. Rime believes it is important to remember that medical treatment and operations can be complicated, and that one cannot always expect to be 100 per cent well again. – And it is not necessarily about the doctor making a mistake, she emphasizes. President Anne-Karin Rime of the Medical Association. Photo: Thomas B Eckhoff / Den norske legefo – Not everyday food The thesis believes that police cases are reserved for the most serious cases. – Doctors who know their profession have nothing to fear. This is not everyday food, he says. He also believes that the Health Personnel Act is there for a reason. – It is primarily the patient’s safety that is the focus here. There is a reason why we have the rules, and in my opinion they are very rarely used against the doctors. There is absolutely no trend. – These have been isolated cases that have been so serious that it has been absolutely necessary for the police to investigate the cases. This is not everyday food. news has asked the Agder police district if they have experienced an increase in reports against doctors. They answer that the question requires a greater empirical basis than what they have available.
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The medical association believes Flekkefjord cases create fear among doctors – news Sørlandet – Local news, TV and radio
