Semmelweis Society

The Semmelweis Society is a non-profit whistle-blower and pressure group for physicians formed in California in 1986 by Verner S. Waite and named after Ignaz Semmelweis. The society aims to alert the public to the hazards of what it calls sham peer review, to support physicians who are affected by damaging peer reviews, and to lobby for legislative change related to medical peer review and whistleblower processes.

Background

The Semmelweis Society was founded by Verner Waite, who named it after Ignaz Semmelweis, an Austrian doctor who was ostracized partly for his advocacy of hand-washing by physicians in the 19th century. Semmelweis past presidents include Verner Waite, Henry Butler, C. William Hinnant and Roland Chalifoux. The society is donation fundedFact|date=August 2008, and its aim is to assist physicians who encounter what the society calls "bad faith" peer review: the alleged misuse of review proceedings as means of personal retaliation against individual doctors.

Medical peer review

The Semmelweis Society was formed in 1986 following a lawsuit won by Verner Waite, in which a number of his medical cases had been subject to peer review. Waite alleged that the review committee was controlled by rivals.Fact|date=July 2008

Roland Chalifoux, a current member of the Semmelweis Society, had his medical license revoked in Texas in 2004 after numerous incidents including the death of a patient. The Texas State Board of Medical Examiners declared that Chalifoux's practices "constitute such a deviation from the standard of care that revocation of his license is the only sanction that will adequately protect the public". [Horvit M and Jarviss J, "Board revokes doctor's license," Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX), 12 June 2004, p.1B] Chalifoux subsequently secured permission to practice in West Virginia, [Mitchell M, "Former Texas neurosurgeon granted licenses in West Virginia," Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX), 7 July 2005] and alleges that the Texas board's actions constitute sham peer review. According to a Semmelweis Society ally, the Alliance for Patient Safety, Chalifoux and the politically conservative Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) are currently party to a class-action lawsuit against the Texas Board of Medical Examiners. [ [http://www.allianceforpatientsafety.org/may14.php Alliance for Patient Safety announcement] ]

Activities

The Semmelweis Society has worked with the Government Accountability Project (GAP) and other coalitions in the "Make it Safe" advocacy group and participated in the first "Whistleblower Week in Washington" (2007). In 2008, Whistleblower Week was expanded with the formation of the "International Association of Whistleblowers (IAW)," co-chaired by James Murtagh and Michael McCray. An international society was formed in 2003.

The society's agenda as of 2008 comprises the following elements:Fact|date=June 2008
# A Government Accountability Office investigation to assess the extent of peer review process abuse for retaliatory purposes.
# Conduct oversight hearings for a public forum on significant findings.
# Amend the HCQIA to help curb peer review abuse, for example by adding an affirmative defense of "whistleblower retaliation" to the act.
# Pass H.R. 4047, the Private Sector Whistleblower Protection Streamlining Act of 2007, and H.R. 4650, the Congressional Disclosures Act of 2007

References