News and briefs: Texas Medical Board will not respond to anonymous complaints

Patients and colleagues that want to file anonymous complaints against a physician don’t have the ability to do so under a new state law in Texas. According to an article in The Statesman, the Texas Medical Board is no longer reviewing and acting on anonymous complaints, an action that has some worried about fear of retaliation. Such was the case a few years back, when two nurses in Texas filed an anonymous complaint against a doctor (before the law went into effect), and were then fired and brought up on criminal charges when the doctor learned their identity.

However, the physicians who lobbied to pass the bill said it is necessary to stop abuse of the system and will prohibit doctors from filing false complaints against competitors. In 2007, the medical board was sued because of allegations its president was filing anonymous complaints against physicians who competed with his wife’s clinical practice.

Anonymous complaints accounted for about 4% of all complaints annually. Although complainants must now identify themselves in written complaints to the board, this information is to remain confidential among board members.