Illinois residents once could access detailed histories of Illinois doctors, things like convictions, malpractice payouts, etc, and according to statistics, it was appreciated.
Judging from online traffic, there was great hunger for that information: During the two years that they were posted, the physician profiles generated 130,000 clicks per week.
Now the records have been taken down. Is this the right thing? Patients now have to do much deeper digging to find the truth in some situations.
“We had a powerful tool to protect patients, and now it’s gone,” said Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, who has introduced legislation that would resurrect the physician profiles. “We need to mandate that the state provide this critical consumer health information.”
