Check Out Your Doctor

Many people check online reviews before going to a restaurant, buying things, or hiring a plumber, etc.  But what about doctors?  If you have a lousy meal, buy a crumby microwave, etc., your loss is small.  Having your surgery done by Bozo the Clown can cause you a lifetime of pain. 

Where can you check?  Google may have hits, but isn’t reliable.  On the other hand, it may show things the doctor wrote (say, a comment on a news story).  LinkedIn is mostly the expert blowing his own horn -- and his friends chiming in.  On-line rating sites like  www.ratemds.com are more about bedside manner than the doctor’s skill – are you really qualified to assess an aortic valve replacement?  A better source is to see if the doctor has been sued, for what, and how many times.

A free, easily to use service is the Canadian Legal Information Institute: https://www.canlii.org/en.  Go to the site, choose the slot for “Document text”, and type in the doctor’s last name, with “Dr.” in front, and the proximity code “/3” – like this: “Dr. /3 Hicks”.  You may wish to add the doctor’s first name – like this: “Dr. /1 Tracy /2 Hicks”.  You can try other search terms, like “Dr. /2 Hicks /4 orthopedic”. Even: “Dr. /2 Hicks /5 negligent”. Pick what jurisdictions you want to search (presumably, BC). Such a search will pull up cases where that doctor was a witness, plaintiff, or defendant. 

This example reveals over 40 cases where BC orthopedic surgeon Tracy Hicks was sued for negligence.  Note that many lawsuits go unreported.  If the doctor was sued and settled quickly, there will be no court judgment to find.  The search will also pull up cases where the doctor was a witness.  Repeated comments from judges that the doctor was dishonest or incompetent may reveal someone you shouldn’t trust to operate on you.

Good news: Dr. Hicks stopped operating on patients in about 2019.  He continues to be hired by insurers, including WCB and ICBC, to say that injured people are just fine.