To the editor:

First, do no harm. Second, don’t get caught if you do.

The Kansas Medical Society recently had the gall to introduce a bill, HB 2530, which removes doctors from accountability to their patients for deceptive practices under the Consumer Protection Act. Today the act gives hoodwinked and injured consumers the right to seek penalties and attorneys fees for deceptive practices and unconscionable acts. No other professionals are exempted from the act in Kansas. Doctors want special treatment because insurance won’t pay penalties for deception. Duh. The docs also say, even without the protection of the act, their deceived patients can still sue for negligence. (That’s a first.)

The trouble is, we aren’t just talking preventable mistakes here. We’re talking lies and trickery. It gets worse. For obvious reasons, the doctors did not want to stand alone for this shameful request, and so invited all health care professionals to join them. So if HB 2530 passes, hospitals, nursing homes, and you name it will get a free pass for deception under the act.

A widow who testified eloquently in opposition to the bill recounted that her husband died from complications 11 days after a highly advertised weight loss surgery never knowing that his doctor performed the wrong surgery and wasn’t qualified to do the surgery. Is it really even ethical to ask for such protection in a professional relationship with the level of trust and confidence patients place in their doctors?

Margaret Farley,

Lawrence