The case of Dr. Duntsch, whose actions took lives and led to the suffering of many people, serves as an example of a significant problem within healthcare. Having obtained an impressive resume in healthcare, Dr. Duntsch journeyed to Texas, where he eventually found his downfall. Despite the promises that he had made, he brought pain and suffering to his patients, injuring 33 out of 38 patients that he treated in the span of two years.
The natural question that arises is how Dr. Duntsch was to continue his practice despite concerns linked with his continuously gruesome track record. The answer lies in poor management and a lack of internal authority in the healthcare system. The main reason why Duntsch was able to escape the consequences of his actions for so long was the fact that he migrated from hospital to hospital (Keegan et al., 2021). The injuries and ailments that he caused were not reported by those hospitals as they were obligated to report such cases to the National Practitioner Data Bank. In addition, if those instances had been reported, this peer-review system would have been available only to the administrators and not patients or doctors.
As the CEO of one of the hospitals where Dr. Duntsch practiced, my responsibility would be to rely on the surgeon’s colleagues’ expressions of discontent with his actions and decisions. It has been stated that Duntsch would often come to work under the influence of drugs and alcohol. These are conditions that could be noticed by the surrounding staff and be reported to the higher-ups. In addition, before hiring, a consultation with his previous workplace administrators could be conducted, as well as a thorough check of his previous patients’ medical records.
Reference
Keegan, W., Tessier, W., & Story, J. (2021). Where does it begin and how to stop it: Opportunities to prevent “bad” physicians. Missouri Medicine, 118(3), 206–210.